Power Girl and The Flash
by Captain Sigma - Karry Beta
Summary: After the events of Flash's second season, Barry's life is turned upside-down when the clone of Kara Zor-El comes crashing back into his life. Discover what happens when Kara Wells learns about her past and her powers, and how Barry's feelings toward her affects their friendship. But danger always lurks for Power Girl and the Flash. - Alt. Flash season 3. Adult themes. Kara/Barry.
1. Kara's Intervention

So, I'm aware my Karry stories are less popular than that of my Beta's (CharmedMille – Karry Master) or even Speedforce's ( _Call Me Kara_ was amazing though) but I actually don't mind anymore. Read or don't read, this story will happen. Following on directly from both my previous fic, 'Super Double' (you don't need to read that, but it would help) and the Flash finale, I shall be submitting this 23-chapter story (23 episodes, 23 chapters) for you fanfictioners to read and enjoy.

Unlike my previous stories, each chapter will be a somewhat solo adventure, some with a 'monster of the week' feel, others just emotional development. True, some stories will be loosely linked (such as this chapter with the second) and some will be a continuation of a previous chapter, I intend this story to have a much more episodic feel than anything I've written before. So that's the plan. Anyway, please read, enjoy, follow, favourite and review! Thanks in advanced. I'll be making the effort to reply to those of you with accounts too.

 _I do not own anything from DC, the CW or even CBS (even though Supergirl is now owned by the CW)._

Episode One – Kara's Intervention.

Barry sat on the steps to the West household. He'd just rejected Iris and he wasn't too sure why. He had an idea in his head of what he wanted to do, where he was going to go, but his sudden grief consumed him enough not to be able to stand up. He'd lost his mom so long ago and now his dad was gone; yes, he had his adoptive family and all his friends – back inside the house behind him actually – but he'd never at this moment felt so alone.

True, there was the doppelganger of his dad out there on Earth-3… or was it Earth-5 now? Jay might have called it Earth-3, but Barry had been to two other Earths before learning about Jay's Earth. This numbering was getting ridiculous, he really needed to talk to Cisco about what names to give these other Earths now so many were turning up. If Cisco was still working at STAR Labs after what he was about to do.

He stood, the sudden resolution of the task ahead of him laying heavy as his mind tried to fast-track to what he'd come back to: Save his mother, stop Eobard Thawne, and return to what? The real Harrison Wells alive, maybe with his own Jesse? His dad was sure to still be around, and with his mother now alive. Would Joe have sought out Francine again in this new timeline, without Barry to look after? Iris could have known her brother, her true brother, longer than in this current timeline. Yes, there were more pros to this than cons, Barry was sure.

"Harry left?!" The voice distracted Barry to the point of being a physical barrier, he collapsing as he turned on the spot with speed to the originator of the question: a blond in a black outfit.

Dressed like Alex had been when he'd said goodbye to her the first time, the clone of Kara Danvers stood a few feet away, arms crossed in indignation, her now short-cut-hair waving ever so pleasantly in the evening breeze, but there was a fierce look of anger in her eyes as she marched a few steps closer to Barry and asked atop of the previous question: "Why wasn't I informed? I could at least have said goodbye to him."

"Kara…" Barry swallowed, all previous thoughts drowned from his mind now as he looked her up and down once more, a hand flying to the back of his head to rub the nape of his neck in worry. He had nearly forgotten all about the clone in his single-minded vengeance against Zoom. "I… we… where were you?" It was a new thought, but it suddenly sparked a new well of emotions. A woman with powers like hers – super strength, laser eyes and freeze breath to say the least – could have saved his dad, could have helped him stop Zoom, would have prevented his friends locking him up for not having a clear head.

"My dad died and you… you weren't there!" He suddenly found himself shouting, pointing randomly behind himself in emotion, causing Kara to look to him in shock, obviously not expecting that. "Zoom killed my dad just to… to prove a point. You could have stopped him. We could have stopped him together!"

"Barry, I… I didn't know." Her anger at her foster dad leaving without her had lessened for the fact that Barry's real dad had left for good; the ferociousness of her features softened to a sudden well of tears herself as she moved over to Barry, whose own emotions had been held at bay since that fateful night and had suddenly come to a peak as he collapsed into her arms. "I didn't know." She repeated simply, softly and soothingly. She herself hugging Barry as best she could while supporting most of his weight.

Barry could hear movement and realised his shouting must have alerted the West household, for next thing he knew, he was being led back into Joe's house; Kara by his side, Joe on his other side, and was on the sofa long before he properly realised what had happened.

"Nice to see you again, Kara." Joe pointed out kindly as she sat next to Barry on the seat. "But maybe a phone call next time?"

"I don't have a cell," Kara replied simply, her eyes remaining on Barry as Iris joined them, perching on the coffee table.

"He's been through a lot. I thought he was doing okay…" Iris stared at Barry, who had a hand over his face now to hide the tears streaming from his eyes, the weakness he felt they shouldn't see, but didn't react to being talked about as if he wasn't there.

"Zoom killed his dad" Kara stated, somewhat bluntly, "he just told me. If I'd have known…" She looked around, taking note of Cisco, Caitlin and a boy she didn't know by the dining table, looking awkwardly at the new scene in front of them, before back to the shielded Barry. "I've been training, learning, becoming more human. Alex and Lyla have taught me a lot, but had I had known, had they told me…"

"ARGUS likes to keep their secrets." Cisco pointed out from behind her, Kara nodding silently as she locked eyes with Iris, both women concerned for the speedster now.

"They should have told me," Kara mumbled but knew Cisco was right as she looked at Barry, wondering what she could do to make him better.

Iris had never seen Barry like this, even after his mother died, even after stopping Eobard. He was still more-or-less himself when his back had been broken, even if he'd lost confidence then. He'd become a recluse after their somewhat-victory against the older speedster last year, but this time it was different, he had been involved so emotionally. He'd let the fake Jay Garrick into their lives, had trusted him with Caitlin and as a result had let Zoom into their very back pocket enough to know all of their weaknesses and exploit them in a way Eobard never thought to do, even up to his final moments.

Barry was broken.

-PowerFlash-

He hadn't argued when Joe had forced Barry to go to bed and rest – he'd exhausted himself far more than any speeding could. Emotional exhaustion was so much worse than the physical. This wasn't something Barry could outrun; this was something he had to accept.

Kara found she didn't want to leave his bedside, but with him falling asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow, there was very little else for her to do, so found she joined the rest of the team in the living area, all with various expressions of worry on their faces. Hers joined the fray, but she couldn't keep quiet as she addressed Joe, speaking as formally as possible.

"Why did nobody call me? I honestly could have helped. I could have saved his dad and at least said goodbye to Harry before he left…" From the reactions of most of those gathered, it suddenly became very obvious that Kara had been the last person in their thoughts that fateful day, and Kara suddenly felt more deflated than before, letting off a simple "oh" as she sat resolutely on the arm of the sofa.

"It's not that we didn't think of you." Caitlin quickly interjected. "It's just we had a million other thoughts going on and you were still in training…" Caitlin stopped speaking, not really sure where she was going with this. Truthfully, there was no excuse for not calling Kara. Well, maybe herself being trapped by Zoom was an excuse for her, but she was unsure why no one else ever thought of it. When Barry was powerless and there were thousands of metas from Earth-2 rampaging the city they could have used the super powered clone even if she was still training.

"We didn't know if you would be up to facing off Jay – I mean Hunter – and Henry's death was so sudden. Zoom just took him…" Cisco's voice drifted off, he remembering just how sudden, how awful that had been. That day had started so well, too.

"I still could have done something. I hate to see Barry like this, it just reminds me of when I was created, of him being trapped in that place, so helpless." She bit her lip as silence fell over the room.

"I'm sorry, and I get the situation is dire, but who exactly are you?" The young black boy spoke up from next to Cisco, and Caitlin and Kara looked to him dumbstruck.

Joe and Iris however reacted quickly; one getting up and moving to the boy, the other clapping a hand of their forehead in realisation. "Wally. This is Kara," Joe stated simply, he being the one to move to him. "She a… friend of Barry's." That was the easiest explanation in the current situation.

"I'm a clone of a friend of Barry's," Kara corrected simply, not realizing Joe was trying to keep it simple. After all, she had long since accepted her start in life, blessing each day that was granted to her that she could simply exist. "He travelled to another Earth, as the Flash, and came into contact with that Earth's version of me, came back with a DNA sample and bumped into a meta-human who could clone others. I came from that DNA sample." She gave him a very polite smile, which he responded, if a bit confused.

"She's also an alien," Cisco pointed out, the same smile on his face as he always had when he thought of that.

"Ninety-five percent of one actually," Kara corrected to the sudden concern of Cisco and Caitlin. "I guess the five percent is linked back to Duplicate, my creator." She added the last for Wally's benefit, "but it hasn't stopped my enhanced abilities. I'm still super strong, superfast, invulnerable to practically anything, my eyes shoot laser beams and I can see with X Ray vision… yeah, the whole works." She couldn't help but grin at this herself; since training with her powers she had come to love them.

"And the freeze breath Barry admired?" Cisco asked simply.

"Yeah, that too," she leaned back on the arm of the chair as she added thoughtfully, "and the flying and enhanced hearing…" She then fell into silence.

"I can see how you would have been of great help against Zoom," Wally pointed out, almost admirably as Kara nodded to him. If he had managed to help, even a little, against the speedster, then this girl would have been a major advantage in the battle against Zoom.

"I still wouldn't have been able to save his dad, probably." Kara muttered sadly.

"I'm sorry." This was Iris. "I don't think Wells was truly thinking about you when he left." This caused Kara to glanced concerned to her. "Jesse was going to go back to Earth-2 regardless and Wells – Harry – didn't want to lose her again. He chose to go back with her. If it hadn't been so much of a rush and he had thought of you I'm sure he would have sent for you or at least done something for your benefit."

"Barry could always take you to Earth two, with my help." Cisco pointed out as he added, "I'm Vibe, yo, I can open portals to other worlds and that still sounds so weird even though I've done it a few times already."

"You're a meta?" Kara suddenly sat up, "why have you not told ARGUS?"

"I need to?" Cisco responded, worry in his voice.

"Their meta department keeps tabs on all known meta-humans, including those in the precinct and in your pipeline. Just in case, you know."

"I don't" Cisco replied suddenly bluntly, "but I assure you I won't be going all Reverb on anyone anytime soon."

"This is giving me a headache," Wally suddenly pointed out.

"Me too" Joe stated, "all this doom and gloom. I know we need to grieve over all we've lost, but this is just insane. You're all welcome to stay here tonight, I have blankets and whatnot in the linen closet, but I'm heading to bed. Hopefully we can all think more clearly in the morning. Err, Kara and Iris… could I…?" He indicated the kitchen, so he could have a private word with the pair.

Kara and Iris exchanged glances but followed regardless, Cisco and Caitlin taking their place on the sofa quickly while Wally bid his goodnights to everyone and headed upstairs himself.

Once in the kitchen, Joe kept his voice down, but the urgency was still put forth. "I won't deny I'm concerned for Barry. He wasn't acting himself earlier and I have no doubt that he would have done something stupid had you not turned up, Kara. Iris you know him, Kara you're fast enough to match him. If he gets up in the middle of the night, please make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"You think he wants to time travel, don't you?" Iris asked, her voice equally low.

"Possibly. Prevent Henry's death, hell maybe even break his own code of conduct and save Nora, his mother." He added that for Kara's benefit. "As much as I love the kid, neither should be accomplished, who knows what it would do to the timeline. Your dad sure as hell wouldn't agree to it, Miss Wells."

"Agreed," Kara stated simply. "I can watch over him. I don't need sleep, but if I need Iris –"

"I'm good to help," Iris stated over Kara quickly. "Barry needs all the help he can get, and to let him think straight. We need to let him grieve without doing something unexpected."

"Thank you" Joe stated fondly. "And if those two stay," he indicated Cisco and Caitlin outside, "make sure they don't put the TV on too loud this time?"

Iris laughed. "Sure."

-SuperFlash-

The morning indeed brought in a fresh perspective. Cisco and Caitlin had too stayed at Joe's – Caitlin on the sofa, Cisco on the rug – while Kara had stayed in Iris' room, although the Kryptonian clone hadn't slept. She'd found, along with her training, that she needed less sleep than a normal human; she didn't know if this was a clone thing or an alien thing, but it had proved helpful in her studies of Earth law and history. One thing was certain though: She had been able to attain a wider knowledge of her studies and take in more informative than was humanly possible. That was an alien thing, she was sure.

But despite not having slept, there was no reason for her to have stayed up. Barry had remained asleep from the moment Joe had put him to bed and only when she heard stirring, and used her X Ray vision to look through the wall, did she move with speed to Barry's side.

Joe's talk the night before had held some sentiment on Kara. If Barry did plan on travelling back, particularly to save his mother, she could cease to exist – events could unfold very differently and he may no longer have been the Flash in the new timeline. It was one of many streams of thought that had travelled around Kara's brain throughout the night, so making sure that Barry didn't act on this was tantamount.

It seemed Barry had temporarily forgotten the events of the previous night anyway, or the grief had overridden them, as when he groaned for Kara to come in after she had politely knocked on his bedroom door, did he gape at her. "Kara! I… Oh." The moment of brief forgetfulness lifted as his eyes darkened, but his smile remained, albeit weaker than when it started. "It's nice to see you. Bad dreams. Spectres of grotesque beings in black haunting me." He shuddered as he added more forcefully, "You stayed?" Looking at this Kara he remembered the other two Karas – despite being in dangerous circumstances, both had lightness to them that just didn't go out. Clone Kara definitely seemed to have inherited that lightness from whichever Kara the DNA had come from.

"I didn't want you doing something silly. Caitlin and Cisco are still here too. Seems the West household had quite the sleepover last night." She smirked as she talked.

"How do you know about sleepovers?" Barry rubbed his eyes as she he shifted position on his bed to get a better view of Kara, who remained by the door.

"Alex. I've learned a lot since we last parted over a month ago," she informed him.

"Really?" He yawned. "Sweet," he added with a stretch, and then he stopped, a thought seeming to cross his own mind before he turned to look at Kara. "And I was..."

"Was what?" She didn't know what he meant as she moved across the threshold finally, her arms folded still.

"Going to do something silly. I wanted to go back and save them, both of them." He looked down to his feet now in thought, sitting on the edge of his bed, almost ashamed at what he had nearly done.

"Your parents." It wasn't a question. Kara stated it as fact.

"I thought it would make everything right. One event could change the course of everything: Thawne wouldn't kill Harry – this world's Harry – who in turn could have had the family we knew from Earth-2; Joe may have reconciled with Iris' mum; Iris could have grown up with Wally as her brother from the start; Ronnie may not have died and he and Caitlin…" he swallowed, another death he took on his shoulders. "Eddie wouldn't have died, either." Barry paused at that. Would Eddie and Iris have been together then or would he and Iris be a couple, like on Earth-2? "Hell, we may not have opened the breach to Earth-2 which would mean no Zoom."

Kara remained silent. She wondered where Barry was going to go with this, wanting to point out that things happened for a reason, but she could almost see the cogs working in his brain, the realisation popping up like a jack-in-the-box when it reached its limit. Yes, Alex had shown her one of those too; she had taken a great pleasure in showing the alien clone the human world.

"But if I didn't breach universes in this new timeline, I would never have met Kara Danvers and in turn, wouldn't have created you." He looked up to Kara once more, a small smirk on his face. "If you hadn't turned up when you did I would have gone through with it. I don't think I could have lived with myself, even with my parents alive, to wipe the possibility of you from the world. Whatever Kara it may be; the world is better off with a Kara in it."

At this, Kara moved over to Barry, sitting on the bed next to him as she somewhat instinctively put an arm around his shoulder. She still needed to control her strength, so she let it rest around him instead as she said soothingly, "I'm glad you thought of me."

"Yeah" Barry stated. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that Harry left without telling you. Cisco can open breaches, maybe we could… I dunno…"

"It's fine, honestly," Kara lied. In truth when she'd found out from Lyla the events from Central City she had been devastated to know that the only other person who'd shown her affection from the moment she'd been made had left without even a second thought. She always had Alex who, despite being her superior, was almost like a sister to her, a guide in this strange world. It had been Alex who insisted Kara go and see Barry when she did, and now Kara was glad she hadn't counteracted that decision.

"Did I tell you I like your hair short? Very Cat Grant" Barry suddenly added, having stood from the bed to look around at her.

"Who?" Kara asked, having not heard the name before.

Barry smiled at the question and nearly laughed but was interrupted by Cisco's voice screaming his name. "BARRY!" A shiver ran down Barry's spine at the urgency of the cry, but before he could move, Caitlin was at the door.

"Sorry. Something… well someone… please, you need to come down, now," Caitlin's hair fluttered in the sudden breeze Barry created, speeding past her and down to the living area. Caitlin looked apologetically to Kara before adding to the girl, "If you're staying, I think you need to come down too."

In front of the bay window by the front door a man stood. He was slightly taller than Barry and of bigger build. He wore red. Particularly the jacket with the large lightning bolt going from waist to neck and the helmet he now supported as a relic to a tortured past that was tucked under one of his arms. He was looking seriously to Barry who stood frozen to the spot, the sight of his father's other Earth doppelganger still sending shivers through his entire body.

"Allen," Jay Garrick addressed Barry. "I'm afraid I'm not here on good tidings."

Barry shook his head, unsure of what he was seeing and hearing. It was bad enough that an alternative Flash went around wearing his dad's face, but to hear from those lips words so blunt and less than friendly was still strange to experience. He also didn't see Iris and Joe standing in the door to the kitchen or Caitlin and Kara moving down the stairs until petite fingers intertwined with his own and he gripped tight, Kara's own hands able to take the strength with ease.

"Jay…" Barry finally breathed, "What… what happened?"

"My earth is gone," Jay stated bluntly.

"G- Gone? What do you mean?" Barry remained shocked still.

"I left Harrison and his daughter," Kara's grip suddenly got painfully tight "on their Earth and went to return to mine, only to find it was gone. Nothing but a shell split in two. Everyone… dead."

"My vision," Cisco now moved into Barry's peripheral vision, next to Kara though, "of Earth-2 splitting in half. It happened? But to your Earth?"

"I fear I was gone too long." Despite his stoic disposition, a great sadness seemed to spread across his older features, "I have no home and I don't know why. I was hoping as a fellow speedster you could help me understand what happened."

"But we stopped Zoom," Cisco pointed out angrily, "he had a device that would destroy all Earths, Barry stopped him and the device –" In his surprise and anger, he moved forward again, his bare hand brushing Kara's free one and, in that second, he stopped. Everyone else in the room though, thought he had finished his sentence, indeed Jay continued to talk, but Kara no longer heard the words, she staring at Cisco in shock.

Cisco seemed frozen, paralysed, as he watched something Kara could not see, and only when she tugged on Barry's hand, still holding hers, did Barry look to her to see Cisco in his unfazed expression.

Everyone in the room seemed to follow Barry's gaze now as Cisco suddenly blinked, coming back to life, and his eyes found Kara. He swallowed.

"What did you see? Was it another Earth being destroyed?" Barry asked worriedly.

"N- No… It's Jesse. She's…" his eyes flickered from Kara, to Barry and then to Joe, "she's dying!"

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Embracing Destiny

Thank you everyone for the likes, reviews and favourites so far; this has been the goal since I wrote SuperEarth and came up with the idea to bring Kara into the Flash-verse officially. Like I said in the previous episode (I'm calling chapter's 'episodes' here, to address the fact that this is my Flash Season 3), there will be 23 stories to this fanfiction and, like the show itself, will be updated once a week on a Monday or Tuesday depending (but not both) as Supergirl airs on Mondays and Flash on Tuesdays – I apologise if this is an inconvenience to some desperate for more, but I work at my own pace and after working to a deadline for Super Double twice a week, I'm more keen to get stories written some weeks in advance and have some to fall back on should I not be able to write for a few days (I'm currently in the middle of writing chapters 4 and 5 to give you an idea there).

Oh, look out for a preview of my next chapter at the end, a sort of 'promo' to next week, if you will! Also, this chapter is going to start the expansion of the Flash into other show territories, but not in the way you expect – and some unknown questions will be answered, which I hope you guys find thrilling.

Episode Two – Embracing Destiny.

"We need to go! We need to get over there and save Jesse now!" Kara demanded, looking between Cisco and Barry; poor Jay was left in the dark about his doomed planet now as Kara added, "do your thing, that Vibe thing and we can go to her!"

"I can't just… I don't…" Cisco spluttered, put off by Kara's sudden eagerness and need to travel to Earth-2 and save Jesse. Truth be told this vibe of his had been more unusual than that of his past ones – he hadn't got nearly a full picture, just Jesse lying in a bed, Wells over her in a somewhat panicked state and he couldn't be sure, but Jesse seemed to have been vibrating at inhuman speeds. "Maybe dying was an overstatement," he finally stated uselessly, looking to Barry for help.

Normally Barry would have been on Kara's side, or at least in her mind-set, desperate to go over and save Jesse, but two years of experience had finally caught up to him, urging him to err on the side of caution instead of go in and get lost. After all, hadn't this helped himself and Earth-3's Kara defeat Livewire and Silver Banshee? Plan ahead, get to know your enemies, or at least get to know the situation. Running in with no plan never solved anything and in fact, tended to make a situation worse.

Barry needed to speak, Kara was looking at him indignantly and, in fact, most of the occupants of the room were staring to either himself or Cisco now. "You reached for me in the speed-force, right?" The thought had occurred to him and Cisco raised an eyebrow, already realising where Barry was going here, "then you got Iris to pull me back to this world. Couldn't the same be implemented here, to cross the boundaries of this world to Earth-2 without actually going there, to make sure your vibe was right?"

"Yeah, that's feasible. Caitlin knows how to work the technology. And I told Harry I might poke my head into his lab to check on him from time to time, so if things aren't as bad it wouldn't be as much of a disruption into their new lives." He smiled at this, feeling more confident doing this than making a breach back to Earth-2; a breach he couldn't reopen from the other side and one he didn't know how long would stay open either. If they had to go to Earth-2 though, at least Barry would then be quick enough to pick both of the Wells' up and take them through before being potentially trapped on Earth-2 again.

"What? You want to appear to Harry as a vision instead of going there and actually doing something?" Kara now turned to address Cisco, agitation in her voice. She clearly could not understand why they didn't just go. "Jesse may not even last that long!"

"It's better than running there for no real reason Kara." This was Caitlin, she had moved forward; riskily putting a hand on Kara's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. She understood where Kara's need to rush into things came from – she was young and had little experience when it came to being the hero. "If you want, Cisco can send you across so you can see for your own eyes."

"And if Jesse is…?" Kara asked, trying to remain calm as she smiled weakly at Caitlin.

"Then Allen and myself will go over there and bring them straight back" Jay Garrick said. He'd since given up trying to get the attention of anybody to tell him what had happened to his Earth and figured once Jesse was safe they would once again turn their attention back to his Earth. Besides his superhero side was taking over: Saving a dying girl was more important than a dead world at the moment. Afterwards he could find a purpose in his life somewhere, especially if Earth-2 had no heroes without their fake Flash, maybe he could utilise his skills there instead.

It was literally ten minutes later when Caitlin, Cisco, Barry, Kara and Jay stood in the lab where Barry had gotten his powers back – Joe had to cover for Barry at work, or at least inform Captain Singh that Mr. Allen needed another personal day, and Iris had been called into work on desperate, apparent life-or-death need. Wally had left before Barry had even woken, having to get to college and not wanting to deal with the speedster-drama going on in the home for once.

Kara was itching to get on, taking in the room, the equipment that had survived, scattered throughout but still listening to what Cisco was saying. There was a podium of sorts set up in the middle of the room with some wires attached, which Cisco apparently needed to help boost his Vibe powers, and all Kara needed to do was hold on to the meta and concentrate on who she needed to get through to, and since she had never officially met Jesse, she had decided her dad, their dad, would be the best target.

She was right.

-PowerFlash-

The moment the real Jay Garrick had landed them back on their true Earth, Harry knew something was off. Somehow the city had miraculously survived Zoom's attacks; he could tell even from the front of his STAR Labs that there was major construction going on, Zoom's attacks having ceased and a lot of the metas obviously gone, being trapped on Earth-1 in fact, but it was with Jesse that Harry's concentration lay.

As their feet touched on the ground and Jay sped off to make a portal back to his own Earth, Jesse had instantly collapsed, feigning the speed of travel as a means to her dizziness, but barely an hour later Harry had found her unconscious in their family home. He didn't have the heart or strength to take her back to STAR Labs, and the medical services weren't as helpful as he'd hoped so it had been up to his own genius to figure out what was wrong with Jesse; he'd had a hunch from the word go though, and his hunches were normally correct.

Jesse had started phasing in and out of focus about twenty minutes ago; she was covered in sweat and moaning, despite being completely unconscious. Harry hated to see her like this and knew she couldn't stay on this Earth much longer, but he couldn't find a replacement for Barry or even Cisco to take him back to where he knew, just knew, Jesse would get better. Harry couldn't believe he was missing having an Earth-2 version of Cisco. If Reverb hasn't been killed by Zoom, maybe he could have gotten Jesse to safety.

Maybe it was his delirious, terrified state or maybe he was just losing his sanity, but he swore he could see a blond woman reflected in Jesse's cabinet mirror…

He jumped up and span around, his mind suddenly clear and his worries gone. Kara was in the doorway. Only she wasn't quite there. She was like a ghost, staring at Harry, a look of shock on her face as her eyes lingered on Jesse.

"It's true," was all she said looking around.

"I need to get her back to Earth-1, Kara. I need Barry and Cisco's help." He knew exactly what was happening, what was about to happen. He could have punched the air in delight if he wasn't so tired from the stress of the last twenty-four hours.

Kara didn't wait around; with a gust of wind she had vanished, Harry turning back to Jesse who was now tossing violently. He moved back to her side, trying to grab hold of her hand, but her vibrating was getting too quick, too violent – if Barry didn't hurry she could phase through the bed and he couldn't help her then. He definitely couldn't even hold her hand now as she passed right through his skin.

There was flash of red light and the bed was suddenly empty. Harry barely had time to react when Jesse's room became a whirl of nothingness, there was a burst of blue energy, and he was suddenly in STAR Labs; not his Earth-2 STAR, but the Earth 1 one, the slightly shabby, run down Labs that had come to feel as home over the past seven months. Jesse was already on the hospital bed she had been in so recently when exposed to the speed-force, and Harry was again by her side in a matter of seconds, barely taking in Cisco and Caitlin or Barry and Jay in their Flash outfits, or even Kara. He still only had eyes for Jesse.

"What happened? We need to know everything before we can even begin to help her," Caitlin instructed Harry, not even welcoming him back yet due to the dire situation.

"It's not what's happened to her since we parted, Ms. Snow, it's what's happening to her now that you need to know," Wells stated, his voice forced calm as he finally managed to grab hold of his daughter's hand. Already her juddering and phasing was subsiding and he couldn't help but smile at this improvement. She was getting better.

"Well, what is happening?" Caitlin barked at Harry, not in the mood for any of his mind games and surprised he would want to play them with his daughter's life on the line.

"She was exposed to the speed-force a few weeks ago when we brought Barry's powers back, the speed-force of _this_ world, Snow. None of us knew it, although I suspected when Barry woke her, but she cannot exist on my world, her world, while she hasn't completely embraced what she is." He said this in one breath, causing Cisco to whistle in a somewhat impressed state.

"You mean she's a speedster, like Barry and Jay?" Cisco asked looking at the girl and wondering why he had never suspected it.

"That's exactly what I mean, Ramone. The moment she landed back on our Earth she no longer fit in and the speed-force knew it. Look, she's already calming…" Indeed, she no longer vibrated at all now, and her breathing was returning to normal without anyone's help.

"But Jay can come and go to other universes and not be like this, and Barry" Cisco pointed out, a little confused.

"Indeed. But they have both embraced their powers, Barry more-so." Wells pointed out, moving now to grab a blood pressure monitor and some other supplies. "Undoubtedly if she accepts who she is, the speed-force will allow her to exist back on her home Earth, but until that moment she's trapped here. I doubt she can visit any other Earth either. But you know Jesse, she's a brave and determined girl, this could make or break her. We cannot force her to do what she doesn't want to do, but trying to remove the speed-force from her could be tricky. Like Barry she was chosen; rejecting the gift could be dangerous."

"Wally was hit too…" Barry breathed, standing back from Jesse, Harry, Caitlin and Cisco; he, Kara and Jay watched from a safe distance, although Barry could tell the super-powered woman was just itching to speak to Harry herself, likely wanting answers on why her adoptive father left without a goodbye.

"His powers haven't manifested? I suspect it's different for different people. You, Allen, slipped into a coma for nine months, Jesse would have done the same without your interference. Wally however is an adventurous kid, he wouldn't take anything lying down, not even his new destiny. Give him time though."

"Joe suspected…" Barry muttered now, remember Iris telling him about Joe breaking his favourite cup in an effort to get Wally to catch it with speed, only for nothing to happen and the cup to indeed, break.

"A father always knows," Harry stated simply, now putting an IV line into Jesse's arm before sighing satisfactorily. "She's stable." He looked up at Caitlin, who nodded in agreement before he turned to look at Barry and Kara.

Kara could see Wells was tired, he probably hadn't had any sleep since he'd left the first time, but she had to know, she had to ask him –

"I didn't have time," Harry spoke before Kara could. He knew what his adoptive daughter wanted to say, and suddenly felt guilty for leaving. He had to explain. "Jesse was going to go back no matter what and I didn't know if I wanted to go with her until the last minute. I should have written or called or, I don't know, anything but I didn't and I apologise. I should have thought more of you, and I didn't. Jesse is my daughter though, my flesh and blood. I know you don't have anyone like that, maybe the closest person being Barry or the alien from the other Earth you're cloned from or maybe even Duplicate herself…" he talked himself into silence, seeing the battle being played out behind Kara's eyes, the thoughts colliding in her brain.

He hoped she could forgive him. Harry had liked the clone when she was first made and wanted to get to know her now that she had obviously grown up just a bit and help her grow even more to the potential and the hero she could become. Harry hoped when Jesse finally accepted who she was she would want to stay on this Earth too, so Harry himself could stay.

For Kara it had been so easy to hate on Harry for leaving her, but he raised a valid point; if Barry had to go away, if there was only one chance to go with him, to wherever, she would follow without hesitation, without thought to her adoptive father or sister. Barry had cared about her before the word go, had already known what she was, who she was and who she could be. He had put so much love in her that Kara wouldn't want to leave him forever.

She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Harry before he could protest. Of course she hadn't mastered her strength properly yet, but somehow she knew the exact pressure she should put in the hug that didn't break Harry's ribcage or back. "I'm sorry about Jesse," she whispered in his ear as she held on to her dad.

-PowerFlash-

Iris strode into the Central City Picture News' office, a disposable cup of CC Jitters coffee in hand and not paying attention to what was going on around her – her thoughts were still on Harry and Jesse. True she had never really got on with Jesse, barely having spoken to her in the time she was on this Earth, but her father had proved a daring individual, risking life and limb for his daughter, and loathe as she was to admit it, she actually had liked Earth-2's Harrison Wells. She hoped Team Flash could save Jesse for his sake.

She had actually wanted to stay with the others, especially after finding out about Jay's home world in ruin, but calling in sick or working from home wasn't going to work today, especially by the call from one of her overly fussy co-workers at the paper. Scott, her boss and one-time-date, seemed to have been fired that morning according to the colleague (not that Iris really cared, she'd never really felt for Scott in the way she had for Eddie, or even Barry of late), and everything was up in the air – no one could be away from the office today.

So, coffee in hand and some fifteen minutes after the panicked call, Iris had walked into the office and stopped in sudden shock. Now she knew where the fear had come from, and why all her co-workers were gathered near the editor-in-chief's office.

"Ah, finally. Glad you could join us Miss. East." Cat Grant stood in high heels, in a remarkable and probably expensive dress, seeming to tower over everyone else in spite of her smaller stature compared to some of the others gathered around her.

"It's 'West' actually," Iris found herself correcting the CatCo Media boss before she could stop herself. She found herself staring at the woman in shock as well as everyone else. She had never thought she would actually meet the Cat Grant.

A small smile curled on Cat's lusciously red lips at this remark to which she responded, "Whatever. You're late anyway and your co-workers have been dying to know what the top-boss is doing here in Central. Now that I have everyone gathered I can tell you all that I'm here on a semi-permanent basis, to bring order and sanity to this branch of CatCo that your previous bosses seemed to have neglected

"Mr. Evans was a bad choice in replacing the late Eric Larkin, rest his soul, considering he didn't know what sells a story" Cat seemed to be loving having an audience to speak to, but her eyes lingered on Iris longer than any of the others as she continued, "and that is hope. Hope and heroes, to be precise. Larkin didn't last long enough to garner a true feel for the main Central City meta-human here, the Flash, but Evans wanted to villainise him from the get-go, in spite of all the heroic deeds he has thus far done. That will not do. This city needs a hero and the Flash is it."

Iris couldn't believe what she was hearing. The media mogul of National City was praising the Flash, was praising Barry. If her reputation really did precede her, this was nigh on impossible, even for the woman who once put Perry White in his place. "Central City needs hope in its dark days. When this Zoom character seem to claim the city as his and unleash all hell upon you, Evans still didn't want to light the spark of hope, Miss East here had to write her own article in spite of his orders…"

"Actually…" Iris was about to correct Ms. Grant on several factors there, but it seemed Cat wasn't listening.

"I have come to right some terrible wrongs and I may be here to stay if this city proves interesting. I have a young son whom I refuse to let in harm's way however, so if any Zooms return…" Cat Grant didn't finish her sentence and she didn't have to; everyone knew what she meant. "Anyway. Now I have said my piece, I expect you all to get to work. I think a new headline is in order: 'Cat Grant Comes to Central City' no, actually 'Media Giant Makes History' yes, that will work better." She clapped her hands and the others quickly dispersed; however Iris remained. She had an unusual feeling Cat wasn't done with her.

"Eileen," Cat finally spoke to Iris, the girl beginning to realise that Cat made a purpose of getting names wrong so decided not to correct her this time, "come, I have to discuss with you something that may interest you." She turned on her five-inch heels and moved quickly to the office so recently occupied by Scott, only to stop as she opened the door, and groaned. "Oh so small and dank. I expect open plan, television screen on all news channels, a large desk, oh no, no, no, this will not do!"

However, she moved over the threshold and over to the window, muttering something about 'ground floor living' and 'appreciating the city' before she turned to Iris once more. "I have great plans for this newspaper, Eileen; I mean to turn it into the biggest cornerstone of this city and that all starts with you."

"Me?" Iris breathed, nerves erupting in her stomach. Barely two years ago she had been writing articles in a blog and working in a coffee house to make ends meet, dreaming of a life in journalism and now she was speaking to one of the biggest journalist in American history, even if she hadn't quite yet made a name for herself outside National City.

"You are my meta-human correspondent after all" Cat stated, somewhat airily, "It's what I got you hired for to start with. No one wanted to write about 'The Blur' when he first turned up, and yet your little blogs proved different. I have an eye for talent, Eileen, remember that."

"You were the one to get the Picture News to hire me?" Iris breathed in disbelief, shocked at the information she was being given.

"Mr. Larkin was hardly willing to bring you on board" Cat responded reasonably, "surely you had to know there was a reason for him hiring you, for keeping you. I thought you had a smart head on that body."

"I did… I – I mean I do!" Iris quickly agreed, her mind racing. Indeed, Larkin had seemed resistant to hire her, but still had done so, keeping her on in spite of her concentrated articles on The Flash, and had even passed her on to the reluctant Mason Bridge to learn more of the paper and build up a status. It would have been easier to have fired her, or got someone else at the newspaper to write about The Flash altogether, but he had leaned on her to write the articles, expected _her_ to know the Flash's moves.

Because Cat had insisted.

"Good," Cat was saying, moving around the small desk to take a seat, "because from this moment on you are my number one meta-human correspondent here. Whatever acts these extra-normal human beings do, whether it's with The Flash or not, you are to write them. I get final approval of course, but no-one else touches the topic apart from yourself. I see big things for you. The first of which is getting me a dairy-free latte from that coffee house you used to work for."

"I – what?!" Iris shook her head, trying to make sure she had heard her boss right.

"On second thought, there's that 'The Flash' beverage I keep hearing about. I would like to try that" Cat wasn't exactly listening to anything besides her own voice. She had pulled out a tablet from her bag and was already typing something on it.

"I'm your meta-human correspondent, you said, not your Personal Assistant!" Iris protested.

"Well, until I get someone, you'll have to do both," Cat stated simply, not looking up from the screen, "I would have so liked to have brought Siobhan here with me," she lamented now, "but she was much better taking over running the place than staying on as my assistant…" She looked up and her eyebrows raised at seeing Iris standing there, still. "Well, what are you still doing here? A Soya Flash drink from the Jitters and make sure it's hot when you get it to me!"

Agitated and slightly dumbfounded, Iris retreated from the office. No doubt Cat would be asking her to find a proper assistant soon, but until then it looked like she was serving tables again, albeit one table and one highly arrogant customer. Walking out of the office doors and back onto the street, she only just comprehended what Cat had revealed to her; she had been the one to get the paper to hire her, to keep her, and it made sense. It wasn't like her work was outstanding, even now, but if she had that connection to The Flash that no one else did, she was pretty much indispensable to Cat Grant and the paper.

Perhaps she could use this to her advantage…

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _You know, you remind me of a girl I once met on another Earth" Barry spoke to the meta, she folding her arms and raising an eyebrow at this odd comment. "She called herself a Banshee, actually Silver Banshee to be specific," Barry paused, wondering what was up with the colours in the names before continuing, "but wasn't one for the whole Goth look, bit of a nightmare make-up-wise actually. Anyway, my point is that when I met her she was only just discovering the sheer extent of her powers. You, however, know your limits, your capabilities... How loud can you scream?" Cisco seemed to be catching on fast as he turned in shock from Black Siren to Barry and then back, a mad glint in his eye that he only usually presented when he had a fresh idea._

* * *

Post-chapter Note: I hope you're enjoying this so please keep on reviewing! I have a full arc planned out in my head (well sort of!) and love to keep everyone guessing as to my endgame with these characters. Any ideas for Barry and Kara here too wouldn't go amiss as I haven't got all 23 episodes filled out in my head yet. Next episode I'll be addressing _that_ end to my 'Super Double' story too, so look out for that next week.


	3. The Canary and The Siren

First off I want to apologise in advance for the lack of Kara in this episode. I know a Power Girl story without the Girl of Power in is a little bit stupid, but she just didn't fit in with the story I wanted to tell for this chapter, and I hope I can be forgiven for that. The next two chapters will more than make up for that I hope, but I won't reveal to you how or why – well, at least up until the next time portion at the end…

Also, some people wanted a longer length of story, so this is where the expansion truly starts.

Episode Three – The Canary and the Siren.

Sara Lance sat at the foot of a grave, her eyes unfocussed and her mind elsewhere. Ever since that Rex Tyler person showed up and Kendra and Carter had left the 'team', her future as part of an ensemble seemed to be in doubt; Rex and Rip had vanished into Rex's Waverider and the rest of the group hadn't seen either since. After an hour of waiting, Sara had had enough; heading back to the city with no clear idea of what to do next.

That was until the enormity of what had happened to her and her family had struck her since her resurrection and she then had spent another hour in tears, wandering the roads of Central City until she had gathered her thoughts and hitchhiked all the way home; that is to say, all the way back to Star City – it was still odd calling it 'Star', renamed after a dead man she had spent the past few months with side-by-side, not including the almost two years that she, he, and Kendra had spent abandoned in the 1950s. At least that unplanned excursion to the past had helped her control her resurrection-related-bloodlust, having re-joined the League of Assassins during that time until her very unusual release thanks to her latest friends.

She had considered going to her dad the moment she jumped out of the third car that made the final leg to Star, but instead found her way to the flat once owned by her sister and shared with by Thea Queen – it wasn't hard to get in, she didn't even need to break in since she had a key and the locks weren't likely to be changed if Thea still lived there full-time now. Wherever Thea was though, it seemed like she hadn't retuned in some nights; the place was exactly the same as when Sara was last here, Laurel could have only just walked out of the door…

Sara had woken in the early hours of the morning, dawn's early light only just caressing her face through the blinds in the lounge, and contemplated her options. That was when she had decided to visit her sister, properly and not just her belongings. It seemed unrealistic that just over a year ago Sara herself had been the dead sibling and Laurel very much alive and so there, as she placed herself on the moist grass at the foot of Laurel's grave, the morning dew not yet dissipated, Sara finally mourned the loss of her sister.

The League of Assassins and Nyssa Al Ghul had taught her a lot about life and death over the past near-ten years, and concentrating on taking out Savage had helped distract her, but sitting at the foot of Laurel Lance's grave was just something Sara just couldn't process; something she couldn't expect to either. For once she found herself hating Nyssa for having destroyed the Lazarus Pit, literally the only means of bringing her sister back – but at the same time, she didn't wish the Bloodlust on her dearest enemy, let alone her sister… well, maybe Malcolm Merlyn, just to see how he'd cope.

Was it her eyes playing tricks on her, or the misty morning shimmer of the sun, but Sara could swear she could see Laurel herself crouching not far off, looking directly at her between the tombstones…

Sara jumped to her feet, League training kicking in as she sprinted forward, the figure among the tombstones ahead not having a chance as it shrieked, Sara grabbing it and pulling it's arm in a tight lock, almost to breaking point but not quite. She moved in to whisper into the onlooker's ear but hesitated, suddenly dropping her back onto the ground as she took a step back and nearly collided with an ancient tombstone behind her.

"Laurel?" she asked the figure who was now whimpering on the grass. Sara could see through the long dirty blond hair to the pale, thin face underneath, her heart almost skipping several beats as she pulled herself together and moved closer to the other woman, her voice softer now as she repeated the name, the woman looking to her in fear as Sara's breath was now taken away. "I'm sorry, I won't... how is this… do you know me?" Sara asked suddenly, not sure what to say but seeing something off about her – she wasn't fighting back, she wasn't being sarcastic towards her little sister and, of course, she was meant to be dead.

The Laurel doppelganger shook her head, fear in her eyes, unable to run away as she seemed glued to the spot, looking up at her attacker. Sara sighed in worry; there was something going on here and she had to find out what.

"I'm Sara… I'm sorry I hurt you. I thought… I don't know what I thought, actually," she admitted to herself as she kept a safe distance while not letting the other woman much room for escape. The girl though didn't even seem to try, acting like a scared little child. "Can you tell me who you are?"

"I'm… Sweatpea," the woman responded meekly, Sara instantly recognising the nickname her father had given both his girls and bit her lip. How was this possible?

-PowerFlash-

Kara had refused to leave Harry or Jesse, choosing to remain in Central than go back to ARGUS's meta-human facility, so she and Alex had taken up residence in one of the abandoned larger labs Cisco sometimes used to give Barry target practice. Jesse, however, hadn't woken from her slumber, even a day after returning to Earth-1, but her vitals completely stable. Barry had tried to wake her the same way he had before, by simply holding her bare hand and letting the speed-force flow to her, but to no avail.

Harry, however, hadn't been too distraught by this; the fact that there was activity in her brain scans and her body was functioning normally now was enough, it was probably a bonus – although neither Cisco, Caitlin or even Barry admitted it – that he had her under his eye at all times. After what she had put him through before, after being kidnapped by Zoom and then running away to Opal City after her rescue, to have her there for her father was enough. Obviously Harry must have felt some anxiety at not having his daughter awake, but whatever he was feeling, he wasn't showing it.

Barry hadn't known whether to be at the Lab or his place of work since he woke, finding himself flitting between the two all morning before taking an early lunch at STAR with Caitlin. The two didn't speak as the unspoken words of the last day drifted past each other's minds: rescuing Jesse, the talk Kara and Wells had after their hug and Jay Garrick's need of information.

It was actually on Jay Garrick that Barry's mind now rested. Cisco had Vibed to see if he could see more into what could have happened to Earth-5, but came about unsuccessful, at which point Harry interjected in the conversation, mentioning that in Barry's final confrontation with Zoom, he and the evil speedster had managed to charge the Magnetar for a good minute or so, the consequences of that possibly being the destruction of Jay's Earth, and maybe more. Neither Jay nor Barry seemed convinced with this theory, but as there had been no other option as yet, both had let it be; Jay himself having thanked the scientist once again and ran off – barely half an hour later he was found to be in London, for reasons no-one decided to contact him about.

Barry had just finished his sixth burger, Caitlin barely having gotten through half of hers, when his cell ran. "You got Barry," he answered, having seen the caller I.D. as Joe.

"Bar, where are you? All hell has broken loose here! Duplicate's escaped along with half of the metas in containment!" There was total panic in his voice and, before Caitlin could even question what the tinny voice of Joe was saying across the desk from her, the Flash suit was gone from its mantle and the only thing left of Barry was a rush of cold air.

-PowerFlash-

"How could you, dad?" Sara had followed 'Sweatpea' all the way back to her dad's apartment, the man himself looking frantic but then pleased to see his daughter… daughters. "Actually, _how_ did you?" She changed tact, trying to keep her cool as Quentin Lance's voice fell, the girl who looked like Laurel running past him to cower on the couch, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

"You can't judge, baby, I wasn't even going to tell –" he started.

"You can't just mess with some magic to bring her back! I was coming to accept it, mom was coming to accept it and then… it's just the same as me! I appreciate Laurel bringing me back, I do, but at the cost of what? How did you do it? Please."

"You don't know what it's like!" Quentin snapped back, "To lose your daughter... I lost you and got you back, and then Laurel… I couldn't do it again. Any means to get her back, any road, and I took it, and I don't regret it one instance. I have my baby-girl back, that's all I care about."

"But… how, dad? The Lazarus Pit is no more, and there's clearly no bloodlust in her, no fight or… or anything." She had noticed how very child-like this Laurel had been, like she was a little girl in the woman's body – in Laurel's body. This wasn't the same person. How could it be? She had barely spoken on the walk back, determined to follow her footsteps back home; what she was doing in the cemetery was anyone's guess, but she hadn't divulged.

"She's a clone," Quentin admitted, a little bleakly as he looked back to Laurel, still wrapped in a tight foetal position on the couch.

"A clone… how? I didn't know Palmer Tech or even STAR Labs…" she hadn't even encountered cloning in the possible futures she had visited, let alone in the present. Savage would have killed for that sort of technology, literally.

"There's this meta-human in Central…" was all Quentin had to explain as Sara slapped herself in the forehead, causing both the clone of Laurel and Quentin himself to jump at the sound.

"Please tell me you haven't told mum?" she asked quietly into her palm. Dinah Lance Snr lived in Central and if she had known what had happened so close to her, Sara just didn't know what she would do.

"Of course I haven't!" Quentin snapped back, "I hadn't even told you! This was my secret alone. As you can tell, she isn't quite… well."

"She's not even Laurel. She wouldn't have any of her memories, being a clone." Sara's voice was deadpan as she looked at the girl curled on the couch, a thought coming to mind but Quentin cautiously moved toward his younger daughter now.

"You don't understand, baby" Quentin now pleaded again, "when you were dead and when Laurel finally told me I was so angry… I couldn't talk to her – I refused to talk to her! So many wasted months I couldn't have back but now, now I have _her_ back… she's there. My sweatpea, my little Laurel…" He tried to put an arm on Sara's shoulder, to bring his other girl closer, but she shook him off. "I'm glad you came home too. What happened to your adventures? To that Hunter guy…?"

Sara however wasn't going to be lulled into this sense of companionship, her eyes had remained on the clone of her sister while her mind worked on overtime, thoughts colliding in her brain like a thunderstorm and suddenly she backed away from her dad, a curious smirk on her face as she instead responded to her father: "Don't let her leave again, I'll be back soon. I think… well, I hope… stay here!"

"Baby?" Quentin asked her retreating back as Sara vanished through the door.

-PowerFlash-

The Flash came to standstill in the precinct with Joe still holding his phone to his ear. He wasn't shocked by the speed of the appearance, and indeed, didn't even bother to comment on it as he moved to the superhero. The whole building seemed to be in a ruckus and even Captain Singh was yelling at people – although that didn't surprise Barry or Joe; in fact, that was pretty normal and Barry was kind of thankful he was there as the Flash and not as Barry Allen as he was sure he would be yelled at if he was himself at the moment.

"What happened?" The Flash asked Joe, "How did they get out?"

"Duplicate had cronies on the other side, mainly a couple of Tony Woodward clones – broke through the walls in a matter of seconds, avoiding all gunshots and physical attacks as if they were nothing. It's not good, Bar, with Duplicate back out there she could cause havoc, and with Kara still in the city…" he kept his voice low, so as not to be overheard, although none of this fellow officers were paying too much attention to the conversation, their own careers on the line trying to track down the metas and arranging units to go on the hunt.

"Well as long as Duplicate remains actually _in_ the city then there's hope as Cisco found the range of her powers are limited to only a few miles," Barry reasoned, "which could mean she had some Girders in storage or one happened to walk into the vicinity of her range, either way, I'm going to need help, and I can't ask Kara…"

"You can't or you won't?" Joe asked conspiratorially.

"Won't. She doesn't yet know the full extent of her powers, plus I can't trust that Duplicate would even now be able to get Kara back under her control, being the meta who made her. I need someone unafraid of the fight, someone tough, someone…"

"Black Siren?" Joe asked, having seen it in Barry's eyes before the speedster could verbalise it. "I thought Cisco sent home that Earth-2 abomination of Laurel Lance?"

"And let her Siren screams loose on an unprotected and still vulnerable world? No way! But she may be my only hope. Her scream could possibly knock out Duplicate's powers… I need Cisco. Keep an eye out and let me know." Another flash of light and the Flash had gone, Joe shaking his head as he turned back to see the Captain walking toward him, looking angry.

Barry was back at STAR before Caitlin had even finished her burger. She'd given it up as a bad job anyway as, the moment Barry, left she had moved to the computer banks to find out what was going on. Realising the mass breakout of metas from the precinct would be the only reason, she'd called Cisco in to help – he'd been distracted since Jesse got back and Caitlin didn't want to know why, but the old team was needed to sort out this mess out. Hopefully the Flash could get everyone back and locked up like during the 'metapocalypse' a few weeks back.

"Duplicate's escaped." The words were spoken before Barry even turned up, but that was all the group needed to know to not involve Kara; of course, with her super-hearing she may have heard these words, but judging by the fact that she hadn't already burst into the room wanting in, even she seemed to know to sit this one out – that, or Alex was talking her out of it already, if Kara had relayed this information to her.

"So, what's the plan?" Cisco asked intently, "How are we going to stop a clone-making megalomaniac from turning the city into a twisted version of Barbie's Fun House?"

"Barbie's…?" Barry voiced, looking concerned to Caitlin before saying more firmly, "What did your research on my clone give you? Anything we can use against Duplicate?"

"Err, yes actually!" Cisco moved around the computer, knocking Caitlin out the way as he pulled up a few images on the screen – one was Barry's clone, looking quite shabby and worse-for-wear in his cell, another was a brain scan and the third was what looked like some equations. "Well it seems that Duplicate's control, her connection to her clones is actually a radio wavelength – weird, I know – she emits it, her clones receive it, no matter where they are. Of course like any radio wave, distance dilutes it, so say you move a clone across the country from west- to east-coast, they would be free of her signal, but close up and she can control them."

"So that's how…?"

"Yeah. It's also how Kara broke free," Cisco commented.

"Is it?" Barry asked. "Tell me." Cisco hadn't divulged until now how exactly Kara had escaped Duplicate's control – Barry still believing his attack on Kara originally had severed the link somehow.

"Well, she may look like a human from the outside – her planet or the original's planet having taken a similar evolutionary track – but there are big differences, besides just the powers obviously. Her brain is very different than ours you see; the part of her brain where the radio signal from Duplicate is meant to be received is completely different to any human's – it allowed Kara to break free" Cisco paused for a moment. He'd observed the initial scans of Kara against that of Barry's clone's to find differences and this had been the most scientifically accurate analysis that he could believe. Anything else and it would be borderline science-fiction.

"Duplicate did say she was a tough cookie to bake," Barry said thoughtfully, remembering his first proper encounter with Duplicate when she had revealed nearly all to him.

"She's lucky she was able to bake her at all without get a heart attack or stroke or something," Cisco said with a grimace. "But anyway, this also proves that our best weapon against her is a blocker, something to stop or knock out the signal at the source –"

"I don't want to kill her!" Barry suddenly protested, "we don't know how connected she and Kara still are for a start; Kara already admitted that five percent of her DNA is linked to Duplicate, it could be that that small percentage is enough to kill her should Duplicate go down."

"Which is why I think we need to come up with some sort of device to knock the signal out at the source," Cisco pointed out reasonably.

"Sounds like you need help." All three looked to the entrance of the Cortex to see Ray Palmer standing there. Barry had been about to suggest Laurel's Earth-2 doppelganger as he had initially suspected back at the precinct, but it seemed that had to wait.

-PowerFlash-

Nyssa was in Star City, this Sara knew. The last time she had returned, after Nyssa had disbanded the League and when she found out about Laurel's death, Oliver had told her that Nyssa had remained in the city, refusing now to fight without an army behind her but still, she had chosen to remain. Whether that was for her husband Oliver, her beloved Sara, or her friend Laurel's sake or maybe it was for all three, Sara didn't know. But now it was just a matter of finding her.

Which, for an ex-member of the League of Assassins, it wasn't in fact too hard when Sara followed her old stomping ground right to Oliver's first base of operations: Thea's club. The place had long since been given up, Thea having moved on from ownership of the place, but once Sara had kicked down the door and walked into the threshold, it wasn't hard to see it had recently been lived in. The dust wasn't as thick for a start.

She kept silent though, stealthy like a cat as she kept to the shadows, Nyssa obviously not on the main floor, so Sara moved to the door of the basement, where the first 'Arrow Cave' had been. The lock had long since been damaged and the door was ajar and, looking through the crack in said door, Sara looked down to see a familiar woman, currently in a tight-fitting all-in-one black outfit, practicing her skills. Sara smirked to herself at the grunting noises Nyssa Al Ghul made as she crept through the door and started moving slowly down the steps.

"I know you are there, Beloved." Nyssa hadn't stopped moving, but her voice was clear, even if she was facing the opposite direction. This was corrected as she turned on one leg, quite gracefully, to face Sara, who herself couldn't help but smile. "What has possessed you to leave your mission and find myself?"

"I haven't left my mission" Sara stated quite truthfully. "In fact I have no mission, besides the one I give myself."

Nyssa moved closer to Sara now, her body language almost unreadable. "And why did you seek me?" Almost.

Sara stood stock-still halfway down the stairs, Nyssa suddenly all she could see. It took a lot of inner-strength to remember to say anything at all as she found herself stuttering: "W-why here? All the places in the world, you chose here to live out your days...?"

Nyssa was now paused as she raised an eyebrow at her former lover. "The city or the lair?"

"Both, I suppose."

"After your death I came here to seek justice, instead I found myself imprisoned by my soon-to-be-husband" – Sara still had to get her head around Nyssa and Olly's League of Assassins nuptials – "It was his sister who confessed to your murder, of course, but in my sparing of her life I found myself an unwitting, if fleeting, part of her and Oliver's team. I suppose this is the only place now, beyond Nanda Parbat, which truly feels like home.

"As for the city itself." Nyssa moved away from the foot of the stairs now, backward so to keep an eye on Sara, "I sought comfort and solace in your sister; she helped me accept your fate, made me realise I was more than the daughter of the Demon, I returned the favour by training her to become the new Black Canary, obviously, but Star City is, and may always be, a place to remind me of humanity, of its woes and joys. It is home." There was the flicker of a smile on her face as Sara found herself moving slowly down to Nyssa once more. "But I digress. Why have you sought me so finely?"

"It's because of Laurel, actually. Because of – of my sister" Sara breathed.

"The Lazarus Pit is gone," Nyssa suddenly snapped. "It cannot be remade. The dead need to rest now."

"I know," Sara raised her hands in defence, "but my father doesn't believe that."

"I found and comforted Quentin in his hour of need with your whereabouts unknown. I told him, as I tell you now, there is no way to bring back your sister." There was true sincerity in her voice at this.

"I know," Sara reasoned once more, "but my father is almost as resilient as yours."

"What has he done?" A sharp whisper.

"He cloned her. A meta-human in Central City. The clone, she's... not right, like a child," Sara tried to keep her voice strong - even now the shock of Laurel's clone's appearance in her life tried to take hold of her, tried to double her grief. Indeed, even as Nyssa muttered something about 'foolishness' a tear trailed a path down her dirty cheek.

"I remembered the memory essence used for training –"

"Rensō kioku?" Nyssa asked, suddenly curious.

"Yes. As you were the last Demon Head before the League's fall, I was hoping you know where to find some?"

"I disbanded the League; I took all that the Demon required with me, except for my father's ring which I melted..."

"So you know where the Rensō kioku is?" Sara couldn't help but keep the excitement from her voice.

"Indeed. But be weary, Beloved, it may not work as you intend. To do what I think you want, the sheer content of the memory essence could be too much, the memories may not stick or could be rejected by the clone. You will, however, need my help; during your death Laurel was a great help to me, I would like her to remember the humanity she showed me."

"I was thinking of asking Oliver too…" Sara cautioned.

"Indeed. She was his childhood sweetheart; he would know much about her that you, your father and myself would not."

"Thank you Nyssa, truly." Before she could help herself, Sara's lips locked with Nyssa's; a lifetime of League training had not, and could not, have prepared the former Demon's Head for the sudden show of passion.

-PowerFlash-

Much to Cisco's annoyance, Barry had dragged him away from Ray and Caitlin to visit the pipeline; Cisco had no idea why until they were face-to-face with a very irate, and somewhat tried-looking Black Siren – it seemed she had not given up trying to scream her way out of confinement. Barry was switching on the coms now as she glared at the pair through dark eyes.

"You know, you remind me of a girl I once met on another Earth" Barry spoke to the meta, she folding her arms and raising an eyebrow at this odd comment. "She called herself a Banshee – Silver Banshee to be specific," Barry paused, wondering why so many used colours in their names before continuing, "but wasn't one for the whole Goth look, bit of a nightmare make-up-wise actually. Anyway, my point is that when I met her she was only just discovering the sheer extent of her powers. You, however, know your limits, your capabilities... How loud can you scream?" Cisco seemed to be catching on fast as he turned in shock from Black Siren to Barry and then back, a mad glint in his eye that he only usually presented when he had a fresh idea.

"I think I can help there!" Cisco interrupted before Siren could reply, Barry looking to him as Cisco continued, "when we decided to keep her here instead of sending her back –"

"A decision I would have liked to have been involved in," Siren pointed out in a dull voice through the intercom.

"Yeah, that," Cisco waved her off, "I started tinkering, as I do, with ideas for her and her power – as she's literally Earth-2's Laurel Lance, I already had some of the specs I needed. I made her a power-dampening choker, like Laurel's Canary Cry I made, but this would literally stop her powers; with a bit of modification I can maybe alter it for pitch and frequency instead, so it could be used to shut down Duplicate without blowing her brains, and maybe add some electro-shock feature to keep Siren in check…"

"You want me to be your pet dog? Urgh!" Siren rolled her eyes and kicked the glass front of her cell, resulting in her own wincing and a stream of curse words – Barry momentarily shut off the coms relay.

"You can really do that? Cos I won't deny I saw some major plot holes in my idea to bring her into the team, with her special skillset she would be a valuable asset. If Laurel was still about I would have nipped to Star and we could have asked her, but Siren…"

"I can do it man, no problem" Cisco grinned, not even waiting around for any more approval as he ran off, leaving Barry facing the Black Siren alone. He turned the coms back on, noticing she had calmed down a fraction.

"I need your help."

"I got that, idiot" Siren spat to him, clearly annoyed. "You need my powers to stop this Duplicate person. She's not your Earth's version of Doppelgänger is she? Cos, just saying, but 'Ganger was a bitch."

"Looks who's talking" Barry muttered. Siren actually laughed.

"So what, a reluctant team member? All I want is some fresh air, a bath and to let loose on my powers – you of all people should know that stopping a meta using their gifts is tantamount to torture, _Flash_ , and that's not including these ridiculous cells. You know I've been needing to pee for a day now?"

"Information I didn't need," Barry commented airily, "but okay. Once Cisco has his new choker –"

"Leash," Siren corrected.

" _Choker,_ " Barry insisted. "Once he's done that I'll put it on you and then you can help us against Duplicate. I'll consider what to do with you after."

"Judge, jury and executioner. I feel honoured," Siren stated. "Whatever, just ask your Reverb-wannabe to hurry up and I'll be happy."

-PowerFlash-

Quentin was on the couch with his Laurel; she was curled on his lap while he sat stroking her hair. He had nothing else to do, and the trust this clone of Laurel had in him was rewarding. Maybe he was deluding himself into having his little girl back, but he was happy for the moment – Sara had asked him to stay, so he had. He hoped she wasn't going to come back with her mother but he was mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of the women in his life to attack.

What he didn't expect was Sara, Nyssa, Oliver and Thea Queen to come through the door.

Nyssa had prepared herself to see her former friend's form back from the dead, but the shock of this reality still paused her in her step; the two Queen's however remained in the doorway, staring in complete shock at the two on the couch.

"What are they doing here?" Quentin asked, leaning forward to perch on the edge of the couch, worried that his Laurel wouldn't be able to take the sheer amount of people now present; she being used to just herself and him. Plus, Oliver and Thea had been the ones with Laurel when Damien had killed the original.

"Oliver is here at my request, dad. Thea is just a nosy bitch," Sara stated simply, causing a small smile on Nyssa's face, which she wiped off quickly.

"You said it was important and about Laurel. Laurel who's been more like a sister since you and Olly ended up marooned on Lian Yu, and apparently didn't die when we thought she did?" Thea now glowered at Sara, "All that mourning for what?"

"That isn't Laurel," Sara stated simply, looking anywhere but at her father or the clone. "The short story is she's a clone of Laurel's, with no memories and no life before she was forced into existence by dad."

"Quentin…?" Oliver asked, he having finally moved across the threshold of the flat, looking at his friend with something mixed of anger and sorrow. Nyssa, however, didn't let Olly or Quentin speak as she took over.

"Which is why Sara came to me. Mr. Lance, the League of Assassins were masters of herbology, we knew every plant on this planet, every essence they could provide, mixing leaves was a speciality of many a healer and one such mix may help your daughter in ways you haven't thought about before."

"The last time something like this was promised, Thea almost died and I had to cut off Malcolm's hand," Olly stated airily, although there was no spite in his voice at this – obviously the memory of removing Malcolm Merlyn's appendage still gave the Green Arrow joy.

"This time there is no death, no lives on the line – only memories," Nyssa stated, pointedly, removing from her layered clothing a large bottle of dark green liquid. "Rensō kioku" Nyssa spoke, still addressing a wide-eyed Quentin. "In training it allows ourselves to be seen through the eyes of others, to see our own weaknesses and strengths, to learn how to fight better from another's perspective – with Laurel, it could potentially be used to harness our memories of the woman we knew and channel them into the woman we have here."

"I can get my Laurel back?" Quentin asked, amazed and suddenly overjoyed.

"No, dad, not in the way you think." Despite her words, Sara's tone was soft as she bent down to reach eye-level with her father. The Laurel clone had her eyes closed, and was possibly now sleeping. "She would have memories of her original self from an outsider's perspective – she won't know how Laurel thought, what she felt, what was going on in her heart. But she will know the woman Laurel was and, if she chooses to do so, can strive to become like her, as close to Laurel without actually being Laurel."

"I get my baby girl back. Thank you." Sara's words seemed to not have registered with the former Detective, or he chose the ones he wanted to hear, but Sara decided not to try and correct him as she stood and glanced to Nyssa. He would see eventually if this worked. They all would.

"I need to burn the liquid," Nyssa informed everyone, "allow its dissipated self to traverse the room, fill our minds and seep into the clone's mind – it is better that she's asleep now as a concentrated dose and memories of nearly thirty years… well, she could accept or reject them, Mr. Lance, I hope you understand that?" There was an implication to her words the she didn't voice, but one that Sara had understood from the off – if Laurel rejected the memories, or something went wrong, she could go insane.

Quentin however had risen from the chair and pulled Nyssa into a father's embrace. "I cursed the day Sara returned home," he whispered into her ear, "like some ninja warrior with a strange companion, but you have been a blessing to this family ever since. The trials we have gone through and you were still here for both of my girls. Thank you, Nyssa." He pulled away from the hug, a look of complete shock on Nyssa's face as Sara couldn't help but blush herself.

"I think… yes, if we all gather around Laurel," Nyssa tried to distract herself, "and think of the Laurel you knew. The child. The sibling. The lover. The friend. Her ups and her downs, everything you could think to imbue on a potentially new Laurel…"

Thea and Olly looked to one another cautiously, but without saying anything, moved behind the couch, taking up positions like sentinels as Nyssa prepared the Rensō kioku.

-PowerFlash-

Siren was out of containment. It had taken Cisco only ten minutes to add on the adjustments he had promised Barry and the 'Siren Call', as he named the device, was locked around Black Siren's neck, her previous choker chain long forgotten and a warning that should she attempt to take it off, to leave Barry's immediate line of sight, a 'disabling' electric shock would be emitted.

Ray – who was shocked at the appearance of a woman he thought dead until corrected that Donna Nance was actually Laurel Lance's parallel Earth self with meta-human powers – thought this tactic inhumane, even after Barry had insisted on what the Black Siren was capable of, but he had to live with it, being outnumbered. While Barry and Cisco had dealt with Siren, Ray and Caitlin had used an algorithm to find out where Duplicate was going and what her plan possibly was. It had become obvious that neither the Flash or the Anti-Flash were part of that plan as she had yet to come to STAR Labs – where she knew both to be located – so her true plans must have been something different, and something away from revenge. For once.

Caitlin had also found out why Ray was in Central – Rip and some Rex Tyler person seeming to abandon the team of Legends and he had followed Sara to Central; Sara had continued on to Star City while he'd remained in Central. He still didn't want to go back to Palmer Tech – Caitlin was beginning to suspect the 'business man' persona he'd put on when setting up the company was just a front, he happy to remain a silent partner while Felicity Smoak did all the big stuff – so after tinkering about for a day or two had decided to check in on his friends at STAR. He was glad that he had done so now and Caitlin found herself glad Ray was here.

"You guys are going to need help from Atom, right?" Ray asked Barry as Caitlin told him Duplicate's location – he tried to ignore the weird Laurel lookalike.

"I might need help keeping this one in line," Barry replied, indicating Donna Nance as he added, "and if Duplicate's built herself an army, all the hands I can muster might be helpful."

"I could always make a portal to Earth-5 and you can toss some metas to the death Earth?" Cisco added innocently, much to the discontented look of the others. "Just a suggestion!" He threw his hands up in personal defence.

"I think it best if Barry, Siren and Ray meet up with Duplicate's… army, for lack of a better word, head on, then you guys can stop some Zoom-esque revolution before Duplicate has the chance to begin it," Caitlin pointed out, Ray and Barry nodding as Ray moved off to get suited up.

"Duplicate's bound to have more than one of the same metas in her army," Cisco pointed out, "so Siren, you need to scream, knock out Duplicate's signal, and hopefully knock out the clones, then it'll be just a clean-up of those left."

"Piece of cake," Siren droned on. "I could knock a building onto them if you want some more use of me?"

"Probably not a good idea. We need Duplicate alive," Barry pointed out.

"For someone so keen to push a leash on a meta and lock the rest up, why don't you go in for the kill? It would be so much more hu–" the choker around her neck lit up suddenly and Siren whimpered, almost falling to the floor as Barry turned to her.

"Do not question my methods, Siren, or the shock will be worse. Remember, this is your probationary time. Judge, jury and executioner you said, and I'll stick to that," Barry barked.

Siren just glowered as Ray re-entered the room in full robo-suit. "Did I miss anything?"

Seconds later, the Flash and Siren – the latter in Flash's grasp – were speeding through the streets of Central; ahead a tiny glowing dot sped above the city, Ray Palmer keeping small so to be undetected by any meta who tried to attack before they did. Caitlin had figured out Duplicate and her army of escapees and clones to be marching down the main road toward the hospital, and only stopped when the Flash appeared in front of them, he dropping Siren at the same time.

"Well, well, well, so we meet again Allen," Duplicate crooned. She didn't blur her face this time, although she still looked weak and pale; the hand Kara had damaged on their first encounter was hidden under a glove and Barry took momentary satisfaction knowing it wasn't so easy for her to clone a thumb back for herself. "How is my Flash doing? I miss him so…" she purred.

There was a spark of light from above as Ray struck, managing to take four metas down, two Shawna Beaz's and Roy Bivolo going down with another meta Barry didn't recognise. Without instruction, three Farooq's, otherwise dubbed 'Blackout', shot electricity back at Ray, who only just managed to dodge the shock. Barry could see Siren clenching her fist, desperate to let out the scream she'd been holding for weeks now; but she had been told not to act until she'd been asked to.

"You brought friends. I was expecting that alien of yours… but who's this? My, my, don't you look familiar?" Duplicate moved closer, but Barry was quicker – he took the opportunity to punch the woman in the gut and move quickly into her small army of metas, able to take down all three Blackouts in one quick strike somehow and was about to hit a familiar tall man with glowing eyes when he was propelled backward – Girder had appeared out of nowhere.

Ray had come to his defence though, firing more shots at Girder now who turned to face Ray and charged – somehow every bit still the dumb jock he had died as and no better than the zombie they had faced recently. "I think now's time to use plan A," Cisco told Barry in his earpiece, "there are more clones here than real metas."

"Yeah, don't let your personal hatred for Duplicate or any of the others get in the way," Caitlin added, "used the Siren Call."

"So glad it's catching on already." Barry could almost hear the smirk in Cisco's voice as he rolled his eyes.

Turning to face where he'd left Black Siren, he saw she was in hand-to-hand combat with Duplicate and easily overpowering the clone maker, but Barry didn't stay back and watch as Ray was now throwing punches too, so instead he sped to Siren's side and simply whispered to her "Now!"

She didn't even hold for breath as she opened her mouth and instantly a loud, long, almost ear-piercing scream enveloped the entire area. The frequency wasn't enough to shatter glass, but Barry could see, suddenly crouched to protect his ears, that many of the windows in the buildings around them were vibrating dangerously and the remaining public onlookers were running for cover.

It had worked though; Duplicate had collapsed and nearly all the other metas had gone down with her as Barry forced himself to move, claiming the remaining metas while still incapacitated by the scream and whisking them off to STAR Labs – the only secure meta holding facility now.

"And why didn't I start with that?" Siren asked when the coast was clear, the remaining metas gone and the clones and their master unconscious on the pavement.

"I was about to ask the same question," Ray added, "and there's going to be a ringing in my ears for days now, isn't there?"

-PowerFlash-

They had either done it or failed. Nyssa couldn't tell and Sara didn't want to know.

Laurel still lay sleeping on the couch, the green mist created by the Rensō kioku that had filled the room to the point of a smoke-screen was dissipating quickly and all Sara wanted to do was leave and cry once more. The Rensō kioku had brought back all the memories she needed of her sister so easily, a process she had forgotten happened considering she had normally been the recipient of the stuff when training with the League.

Oliver was stony-faced while Thea and Quentin were wiping stray tears from their eyes, the effect the same on everybody. They had all thought of Laurel, from the moment they had first met her to the moment she had died. If this Laurel's memories of theirs were to stick, only Sara knew how it felt to remember her own death and so it was something the two could share if they ever reached that point in whatever relationship they were to have.

As Oliver moved over to Quentin to have a word now, Sara wondered what position this put her in. The clone was technically younger than her, but Laurel was obviously her older sister; did this make Sara the older one now? She was certainly more experienced, that was for sure.

As Laurel stirred on the couch, her REM becoming suddenly more rapid, Sara moved down to kiss her on the forehead – if the memories stuck or didn't, she would be here for the woman, big or little sister, that was for sure. Sara looked over at Nyssa, an unspoken agreement between the pair passing as Sara stood and, without another word to her father, ex-lover or friend, left the apartment with her old girlfriend.

Time would tell, she knew.

-PowerFlash-

"Can I take this thing off now or am I still your pet?" Siren asked, agitatedly, back in STAR Labs. The whole ordeal to take on Duplicate hadn't been that long, but she was still shaken by being 'familiar' to the meta human. True, she had been cloned by Doppelgänger during Zoom's reign on Earth-2, but that by no means meant that this Duplicate had met her before. Unless she had met this earth's 'Laurel Lance', who was meant to be dead.

"You proved your worth, yeah," Barry responded, now back in his normal clothes and pulling up Joe's number on his phone.

"I still don't know why we had to wait. It's not like Laurel – I mean, Donna, sorry the different name is weird to me – needs to build up the breath to do that sonic scream thing. Sonic Scream… could be a good name for you?" Ray added to Siren.

"I prefer Black Siren all the same," Siren rolled her eyes as she looked expectantly to Barry, who was now in mid-call with his foster-father, and rolled her eyes again, instead looking to Vibe. "Well?"

"I think you may be more use to the team, but you're not exactly a team player, Siren," Cisco pointed out evenly. "Besides, how do we know you won't turn on us?"

"Oh come on. What's a girl got to do to get some freedom around here?" She aimed a kick at the table, but resisted. "Look, if me playing for you guys means that I can at least get a decent bed, regular toilet breaks and a bath or shower every now and then, then toss me a treat and I'll do the tricks."

"I don't know…" Caitlin bit her lip, sitting beside Cisco on the desk.

"She did well though," Ray pointed out, "and was more than a match to the pale woman, Duplicate, than I expected."

"Probably cos she's got no experience in fighting and is as weak as shit," Siren snapped, "but I'll take the compliment."

Barry switched off from the phone, looking back to the small group. "Joe told Singh's the metas are in lockup elsewhere, Singh didn't ask questions for once. I think we're safe. I'm going to check up on Kara; she's been training with Alex all day and with Duplicate in such close proximity… yeah." Without another word, and obviously now distracted, Barry vanished with a rush of air and streak of lightning to the other side of the labs.

Siren groaned as she now rolled her head in anguish, her neck clicking noisily. "Shall we vote then? Those for keeping me in the team and out of those horrible little cells…" Her hand rose, as did a bemused Caitlin and Ray. Cisco was still on the fence, but Siren couldn't help but smirk. "Looks like the 'againsts' are outnumbered. Now I'm dying for a bath…"

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _You couldn't understand," Kara said. "You have your life. A childhood, a purpose, friends, family. You know who you are. I don't have anything."_

" _You have us," Cisco reasoned._

" _None of you can tell me who I am… what I am," Kara persisted. "I'm not human. Not really. There's a world out there with a history I don't know. A part of me is missing – a void of sorts – and you can't give me what is needed. I'm sorry Cisco, but there's only one person who can tell me about where I come from, the person I come from. I have to find the original Kara."_

* * *

Post-chapter Note: So, this chapter reversed a very poor decision made toward the end of season four of Arrow; it may seem like I pulled the idea out of my arse, and let's face it, I have, but Arrow does the same all the time – just look at the episode 'Unchained' and 'Sins of the Father' from season four and you'll see what I mean. We go practically half a season without knowing how to rid Thea's Bloodlust and Nyssa just happens to have the antidote so she can force Olly to make her the Demon's Head? While I find this absurd I also used this type of storytelling to my advantage to create what you've just read. I hope you liked and, as usual, please review.


	4. Return to Earth-3

A new Karry Universe _and_ Power Girl update all on one day? We do spoil you…

So, before I start I'd like to do something unusual and dedicate an episode or two to you guys, my readers. I may do this each week depending on how I feel about it, but first and foremost I'll like to dedicate my previous episode ('The Canary and the Siren') to my friend, and reviewer, Wandering Browncoat – if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have even got into Arrow in the first place and so would not be into the entire Arrowverse collection. While we both disagree with Laurel's death, we're now debating on watching season five of the parent show at all (to those who watch Arrow, please agree with me here that Arrow has become 'Felicity and Friends' more than anything), but we're both still very much dedicated to the other shows and love Flash and Supergirl particularly. So Browncoat, episode three was for you.

This chapter however has to go out to CharmedMillie – Karry Master, my beta. She started my obsession toward Barry and Kara and without her, this whole story literally wouldn't exist – like some twisted version of Flashpoint. So CharmedMillie, even though you know what's to happen in this chapter and the next few, this one's for you.

Everyone else, I hope you like. Your reviews are honestly what keeps me going and is what's made me do these dedication-things.

Episode Four – Return to Earth-3.

Kara was alone.

It was the first time, really, since she had come back to National that she found herself on her own. Of course she was used to being by herself; at ARGUS she had spent plenty of time on her lonesome – studying American, and by extent general Earth, history, researching space to see if she could identify where her originator's home planet could be – if it existed in this universe – and of course, sleeping. She'd spent a lot of time with Alex too.

True, her strength was unfathomable, making it hard to fight with others without breaking them in half, but they had found ways of countering this, particularly back at ARGUS where they had several really strong metas working for them that were nearly more than a match for Kara herself. Practicing with her freezing breath, heat vision, and X Ray vision and, to an extent, flying didn't really need physical opponents, and so those were the skills she had been practicing since she'd found herself back in Central.

But now that Alex had to leave and Kara refused to go with her, wanting to stay near her adoptive family and Barry, she found herself alone, wondering what her purpose in this world actually was. Everyone had a purpose didn't they? Alex's was to help metas and people like Kara; Barry's now was to save people and run really fast; even Iris West had a purpose, a passion to write for her Central City Picture News thing, but what did Kara have?

She had super powers and no clue how she came to possess them, in all honesty. She felt she had no place in the world beside that which she made for herself and wasn't yet comfortable to follow in the footsteps of Barry into superhero-dom. Was she even cut out for that? Alex had shown her superhero fluff pieces on the television from networks and movie conglomerates and they all seemed to follow that ideology that 'with great power, comes great responsibly' – she had great power, that was undeniable, but did she want to accept that responsibly yet?

Her originator must have, being that 'Supergirl' person on both the worlds Barry had visited. She wondered what those Karas had felt, what they had gone through and dealt with to become the superheroes that Barry had met. Could she, Kara Wells, ever live up to that kind of legacy?

"You alright, Kara?" Cisco's voice seemed to wake Kara from her reverie. In fact, it had woken her from actual sleep. She had been by Jesse's bedside, their father working with Joe on something – more than likely secure holding facilities strongmen couldn't just break through – and Kara, having nothing better to do, had gone to her foster sister's side, lost in thought that she had actually drifted off.

"Hmm?" She looked around to him, "yeah, I'm… yeah."

"You don't look 'yeah'," he pointed out sweetly, moving over to her and taking the other chair next to the clone, "if anything, you look a bit lost. Anything you wanna talk about? Happy to be your sounding board; I'm most people's sounding board, actually…"

"It's nothing, just thoughts, you know?" Kara smiled politely at the man; she liked him, he was quirky and a good team player with the others – she was glad of his company.

"What does a clone think about?" Cisco couldn't stop himself voicing this, "I mean I know you're a person, not exactly a human being, but it's not like you can remember and reflect on stuff like your childhood or wonder where old friends are; you have a limited memory and that must suck."

Kara raised her eyebrow but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, it does suck. I don't have many memories but… you could help actually." It was like a lightning bolt had struck her, and not the same sort that had hit Barry – she wanted to know what her originator felt like, what her childhood was like, what made her the superhero she had obviously become – well, she could ask her!

"I could?" Cisco looked hesitant, a little worried even.

"You said, the other day, you can open portals to other worlds. You even offered to throw some metas of Duplicate's gang onto the desolate Earth-5!"

"You heard that?" Cisco was shocked; what they had done with Duplicate, how they had stopped her the second time, Kara wasn't part of that, unless Barry had told her?

"Super-hearing, Mr. Ramone," she stated airily, although using the formal name like her foster father did.

"Oh." He'd momentarily forgotten about that. "But I can't just open a portal to a world I haven't been to – I can't even open them from other worlds, or at least I haven't tried. It's… it's pretty intense. But I could do something else for you."

"What's that?" Kara was intrigued, but she hadn't yet given up on the idea of going of Earths 3 or 4 and was insistent on pestering the meta until he complied. She'd have her way.

There was a fierce glint to Cisco's eyes now as he jumped from his seat, Kara doing the same – although not before gripping Jesse's hand for a moment in personal reassurance – before following him out to the corridor. Cisco was almost bouncing now as they moved down the circular corridor until he stopped, turning to one of the blank walls and touched what looked like a very faint outline of a handprint – obviously an almost-hidden palm-recognising lock of some type.

Instantly a doorway appeared – the section of wall sinking back an inch before moving to the side.

"I got the idea from our Fake-Well's secret room we hid Jesse and Wally in to protect from Zoom; obviously this room is part of the plans, I just sort of hid the doorway and updated the plans to remove the room to make it a somewhat-secret," Cisco explained as they moved through, Kara instantly noticing what looked like a similar layout to the Cortex, although lacking in furnishing or extra off-shoot rooms, but her eyes were instantly drawn to the three mannequins standing in the centre of the space.

One was bare, but the other two wore suits Kara had never seen before, at least not from anyone working in STAR – they were both molded to a female from, both similar in generic look to Barry's and presumably made from the same materials, but the colours were different. One was yellow and red, although more red than yellow – she could tell it was made for a speedster, mainly due to the lightning bolt logo just off-centre, near the heart. Its boots were red with a yellow trim, there were no gloves, but a mask, not too dissimilar to that of the Green Arrow's, was matching in colour to the boots set upon the mannequin's head.

The other outfit was off-white. There were, again, no gloves, the boots were a very pale blue colour with a white trim and the mask that covered the eyes, just like the female speeders', were wholly off-white, but with a light-blue trim to it too. There was no symbol to indicate what group of heroes it could belong to, at least out of the two she knew.

"Yours and Jesse's," Cisco stated, making Kara jump as she'd quite forgotten that he was there. "I had both of your measurements on file – you from when you first came to us and Jesse's more recently – so I thought 'why not?'. Harry wants Jesse to become a speedster, or at least that's the vibe I got off him, no pun intended, and as for you…" Kara looked back at Cisco now, an urgency to her gaze as he smirked to her that boyish grin he supported when he seemed to know more than he was letting on, "Destiny" he stated simply.

"Destiny?" Kara almost scoffed, glancing back to the outfits nonetheless and noting that, unlike Barry's, her collar didn't cover the neck and stopped just above where her collarbone was situated, probably to give her the freedom of neck moment Barry didn't necessarily need. That was the same with Jesse's. "Have you thought up names for either of us yet? The superheroes we're _destined_ to be?"

"For once, no. I mean Harry calls Jesse his 'Jesse Quick' but I'm hardly willing to put her first name out there to the public, and 'Quick' alone is a little… eh. Your other selves were called Supergirl though, so, I dunno."

"Not Supergirl," Kara suddenly moved, turning away from the suits, "not anything, at least, not yet."

She moved back the way she'd come, the door opening for her as she passed through it and strode out, again lost in thought. Cisco had gone far already in making her, and even Jesse, outfits, but Kara didn't feel like she deserved it. How could she when she had nothing to fight for, no lives to want to protect? All she had was ARGUS and just over a month's worth of memories, that wasn't enough.

"Hey, Kara wait!" Cisco ran up to her, Kara not bothering to speed up, as she nevertheless didn't stop walking either. "Didn't you like them? Was it the name? I was thinking Superwoman would be more effective but –"

"It's not the name, it's not the outfit Cisco… I just want to know who I am before I go about saving people as Super… thing." She couldn't even think to utter the name, "I just want to know who I am."

"Back to opening a breach to Earth-3 or 4 then, huh?" Cisco asked worriedly.

"Yes" Kara responded, bluntly herself.

"I don't understand. Why is this so important to you?" Cisco asked, trying to get a feel for this, to truly know what was going through Kara's head. This urgency had appeared to come on so suddenly.

"You couldn't understand," Kara said a little bluntly. "You have your life. A childhood, a purpose, friends, family. You know who you are. I don't have anything."

"You have us," Cisco reasoned.

"None of you can tell me who I am… what I am," Kara persisted. "I'm not human. Not really. There's a world out there with a history I don't know. A part of me is missing – a void of sorts – and you can't give me what is needed. I'm sorry Cisco, but here's only one person who can tell me about where I come from, the person I come from. I have to find the original Kara."

Cisco sighed as he heard Kara's speech and could hear the passion in her voice. He knew she needed this so all he could respond with was, "I think we gotta ask Barry, man."

-PowerFlash-

"Just concentrate on Kara." Barry had returned to STAR right after work – he couldn't take more leave or else he'd be fired – having found Kara and Cisco in debate in the Cortex. Finding out what Kara wanted to do, Barry knew there were risks but had instantly been on board with the idea. He had only come across both Earth-3 and 4 by accident however, so he couldn't guarantee safe passage to either, or if they'd find another Earth with yet another Kara/Supergirl on it too.

Caitlin and Ray, the latter having decided to remain in Central 'for now', had wound up in the Cortex as well to find out Kara's new plans; Caitlin was worried, Ray however, intrigued. The concepts of other Earths he knew about – after traversing through time, the ability to go to parallel worlds was suddenly not as ludicrous as previously thought, after all – but finding out Cisco was the key in that, that he could open portals to other worlds was amazing. All he needed to do was concentrate.

"I'm looking, it's… it's hard to do," Cisco spoke, having his Reverb glasses on, a hand outstretched. Originally Vibe had to find the correct location to breach places, the weakest point in the universe's structure, but recently, maybe due to use of the Magnetar or his more willingness and acceptance of his powers, he'd found that anywhere was as good as spot as any. He'd been practicing with Caitlin actually, away from Barry. The Flash had been through enough not to let this worry him too.

"Please…" Kara whispered to Vibe, her eyes on Caitlin now. Caitlin had been the first to go against traversing to another Earth again, after all, their first attempt had brought that monster, Zoom, to their shores, but Kara needed this. She needed to know who she was, where she came from, how to control herself. She just had to know. So they had planned. Cisco would open the breach, Kara and Barry would go through, they'd find that world's Kara, give her clone time with her and then precisely six hours after opening the first breach, Cisco would open another for Kara and Barry to return through. The last of this plan had been what worried Caitlin the most.

What if Barry and Kara didn't come through? Could they risk sending someone else through to find them? Would something worse come out? Both the Karas that Barry had come across had had rather nasty uncles bent on some sort of world domination – what if he had succeeded and either, or both, Karas were dead, the world in a terrible state? It was risky, but there was nothing they could do about that. If Barry and Kara didn't come through in six hours' time, Cisco would close the breach, Vibe for Barry and then… well.

"Wait… I think… yes, I see… somewhere. I don't know which, but I see Kara… long hair… blue suit… red cape, yes, like you described Barry." There was excitement in Cisco voice, he having found what he hoped to be true.

"Open it," Barry stated defiantly, glancing to Kara – who was now, for once, in normal civilian clothes: a full length florally blue dress and dull red sweater with bright red sneakers. She had picked the sneakers out herself, they being part of Central City's exclusive 'Flash' collection – before looking back to Cisco, who's hand was shimmering with blue light.

Kara gasped as the rippling blue light expanded, Barry quickly moving her behind Cisco, as what looked like a body of sparkling, shimmering, water exploded from Cisco's hand, large enough for a human to pass through as it's light cast an ethereal blue glow about the room.

"It's now or never," Cisco breathed as Kara grabbed Barry's arm, a little too tight, and he pulled on his mask. There was a flash of golden light and the Flash and the cloned alien girl were gone.

-PowerFlash-

Barry stopped as quickly as he could, passing straight through the blue vortex from one world into the other, coming to a pause in a beautiful, picturesque landscape, the sun shining down on him. It was just as he remembered when he'd saved Kara and took her to the safe spot before. Surely here was where she'd stripped off her burning clothes to reveal the suit underneath? This was surely Earth-3.

He looked for landmarks; trying to figure out which direction National City must have been and came to a pause, the shining light of the late-afternoon sun reflecting off the buildings some miles away. Even from this distance Barry could see the two biggest company names almost glaring at him: CatCo and Lord Enterprises. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Kara telling him about Cat and Max's rivalry.

On the lookout for Central, to see if it stood next door to National as on Earth-4, he instead heard Kara cry Cisco's name, Barry looking to her to see her speed off the way they had come, he following her to find Cisco, indeed, lying unconscious on the grass. No portal to be seen.

"Cisco?" Barry crouched down, gently slapping the man on his face to see if he could wake him. Barry looked up to Kara on Cisco's other side, "What happened? Did you see?"

"I didn't! I just saw him… Barry, how are we going to get back?"

"We'll worry about that when we get to it," Barry told her quickly, trying not to think about that himself as he slapped Cisco much harder across the face.

"Zoom!" Cisco shot up, almost knocking both Barry and Kara aside as he looked about in panic. "He was here… where's here…? Barry?"

"We're on Earth-3," Barry stated softly, "you weren't meant to come with us. What about Zoom?"

"He came out of the breach the moment you and Kara went in…" He looked directly at Barry, "only it… he looked horrible, like one of those time wraiths, all… corpse-y." Barry felt the pit of his stomach drop as he looked away from Cisco, remembering the dreams that had plagued him since Zoom's apparent defeat – the black wraith chasing him through time – that had first really cropped up the night Kara had returned to his life. "Barry? If we're on Earth-3, how are we going to get back?"

"You can't just tweak your glasses?" Kara tried, Barry still not looking at them now.

"Do you see my Vibe glasses around?" Cisco snapped, Kara instantly realising what Cisco meant – he wasn't wearing the glasses now and they weren't anywhere around him either. They really were stuck.

"I might know a guy who could help you rig something up," Barry's voice was slow as he looked around again to Cisco, a small smile on his face. "I'm sure you and he will get on like wildfire. I may actually regret this." He stood, nodding to Kara who couldn't help but smile as Cisco sighed and stood himself.

"If it's the Harry of this Earth I may just scream. Two different Harrison Wells' in my life is one Wells too many." He groaned, aching a little from being pulled through the breach.

Barry turned to him. "I'm going to have to carry you, it's a bit of a walk to National from here." Cisco shrugged as Barry scooped down and picked his friend up in his arms. "Oh, getting a little heavy there," Barry couldn't help but joke, "you should lay off the fast food!"

"Hey, not all of us have super-fast metabolism!" Cisco complained as Barry nodded for Kara to follow him.

In a matter of seconds, they stood in a room, the walls unpainted and a lonely desk with computers on, and Cisco felt a little motion sickness. Barry dropped him into the only couch in the room and turned to Kara, "We're in CatCo media; where your doppelganger works, hopefully she's still here so… Kara?" Before he could finish, Kara had gone, a look of glee on her face as Barry now groaned. "You, wait here!" he addressed Cisco, changing into street clothes in a nanosecond and vanishing after Kara.

-PowerFlash-

Cat Grant of CatCo Worldwide Media was having a bad day. Not only was she regretting letting Supergirl – sorry, Kara – go as her assistant, but her replacement was nothing short of a millennial idiot. She couldn't fire this new one yet, the union would have Cat blacklisted with the amount of assistants she had had since Kara had been promoted, but right now Cat wanted to pull her hair out.

Not only that, but the article on Superman's defeat of Darkseid had been claimed by Perry White right from under Cat's nose. True, anyone could run any article they liked, but Perry still had a hold of Cat in a way the media mogul didn't like to admit – and if he got first run of an article, it meant any that followed would just be a rehash of the Daily Planet's initial coverage; Kara wouldn't get the recognition she deserved that way. It was a shame as Kara had even written a lengthy and, surprisingly unbiased, article that CatCo could just no longer print. This would have been Kara's biggest article to date since her report of Supergirl's defeat of Non and the Myriad device and would have put Kara on the top along with, well maybe not Cat or Perry themselves, but maybe Lois Lane. Cat wanted that for Kara, even if she didn't show it.

"Claire!" Cat called for her millennial assistant, not looking up now from the stationary computer screen as she read the quite menacing email from Perry. "Oh where is that girl?!" Cat looked over to her assistant's desk, not finding the girl there but then paused.

Kara was wandering the floor, looking lost and supporting shorter hair than she had seen of her former assistant. "Keira?!" Cat now called to the girl, who looked over to Cat, shrugged and moved toward the office.

To add to Cat's intrigue of Kara's new look, a familiar man seemed to appear out of nowhere. Before he could move to Kara though, the secret superhero had entered Cat's office with a smile, Barry Allen forcing himself to walk up behind her and nod to Cat.

"How lovely to see you again… Flash," Cat stated, Kara's eyes going wide as Barry moaned. He obviously hadn't known Cat Grant had figured out who he was when he'd first been here. "And Kara, I like the look! It suits you, shorter hair. Was I an inspiration, I wonder?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Grant –" Barry started, Kara not even knowing where to begin.

"I would like to know Mr. Allen" Cat cut him off, "how you became the scarlet speedster? Every city seems to have its superhero mascot; Supergirl for here of course, Superman for Metropolis, there's even the rather dully named Starman of Opal City, but you… Central City had a Flash, but he was much older than you, not too old of course, he could have passed as your father, but he vanished about a year ago, taken by a blue blur and neither has been seen since. When you appeared in Central two months ago I thought, well, you can understand I'm sure but, then not a word of you, or the Flash since, either… I have to wonder…"

"I don't know what to say Ms. Grant," Barry honestly didn't know, but Cat only pulled a small smile as she leaned back in her chair and he tried to take in all that Cat Grant had revealed. When he had first come here the only heroes he'd been told about were Supergirl and Superman, they clearly being the favourites of the bunch or he just being in Supergirl-territory and so none of the others were mentioned. Now he was being told of other heroes on this world and one of them was very familiar – worryingly familiar, in fact. Before he could think more of it, Cat Grant started talking again.

"So, what do I owe the pleasure of your return? You're a bit late to help Superman. Incidentally, Keira, your article I cannot run, as much as I would like to; Perry outmanoeuvred us there."

"Um, Ms. Grant?" Another Kara by the door, looking in and only seeing the backs of Barry and her other self, knocked on the glass pane and Cat did a double-take. So did this Kara as Barry's Kara turned to look at her double. "Oh boy…" Cat's Kara muttered, but couldn't help smile when she saw Barry.

"I think some explaining is in order!" Cat now stood up from her desk.

"Twin sister!" Barry almost shouted, turning back to Cat, whom raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm Kara's cousin, aren't I? These two were separated at birth and only recently came back together, I suppose Kara didn't want to let you into her private life and we both thought we'd surprise her. You know, an evening drink and whatnot…" Barry tried.

Of course Cat didn't believe the Scarlet Speedster, but she was good at maintaining a poker face and knew she'd get some sort of full story from her Kara in the end, so forced a small smile. "Well, that's… lovely. What should I call your shorter haired… sister?" she addressed her Kara at this.

"Keira!" Barry, again, almost shouted, wanting to slap himself at the same time for using Cat's nickname for the superhero. How could he be so stupid?

"Really?" Cat really did have a hard time keeping her poker face this time. "Well then Barry, Keira… if you wouldn't mind, I'd like a private word with Ker– Kara before she obviously clocks off for the weekend." Cat stood down as politely as possible as Barry gave Kara Danvers a knowing looks while he traversed a slightly shocked Kara Wells from the office. It looked like another lie had given Miss Wells an identity, and they hadn't even been back on Earth-3 for ten minutes!

"Barry?!" They had barely left the office when the familiar tones of Winn Schott Jnr met Barry's ears and he couldn't help but turn and smile at the young man, who didn't even wait for permission to give the speedster a hug. "Nice to see you! What are you doing back? Kara, when did you…?" He was pulling out the hug when he saw the Kara in the office with Cat and the Kara next to Barry, looking politely lost.

"She's from my Earth," Barry responded simply, to Winn's somewhat knowing look as Barry continued, "I'm actually going to be needing your help. I brought a friend, computer genius, who is going to need your help in making a device he's familiar with. He's actually in the Supergirl Office." He referenced the room he'd left Cisco in, the one Winn himself had claimed as the Regular Joe's base of operations outside the DEO.

Winn nodded as his eyes befell his Kara, walking from the office. Barry's Kara, or 'Keira', seemed to be watching her double with a steely gaze, but before she could even voice what she planned on asking her, Barry moved in front and between the two Karas.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Allen," Kara Danvers grinned to her friend, "and to see me for the first time." She nodded to her counterpart. "I think we better go somewhere private to get a full scope of what's happening. I'm beginning to think this won't be a quiet weekend after all."

In the Supergirl Office, Cisco had already made himself at home; easily hacking into Winn's account to research the girl known as Supergirl, the original Kara, to have an understanding of exactly what made the woman so powerful, and was just on the synthetic 'Red K' Kryptonite incident when the door opened and Barry, two Karas and an ordinary-looking man entered the room. Cisco didn't bother to pretend he had been doing nothing in the time he'd been left alone.

"Cisco, this is Winn. Winn – Cisco," Barry introduced, Cisco jumping up now and shaking the guy's hand.

"I've been looking at your work so far – it's good! Considering you're doing all this pretty much on your own…"

"I have James to help," Winn quickly interrupted, referencing Superman's best friend and his co-worker.

"Where is he anyway?" Barry turned back to Winn, generally curious.

"Metropolis. Supes just took on some big bad called Darksied and, well, James thought he'd be more use up there than here at the moment. Been a bit quiet since Kara stopped her uncle and his mind control device…"

"So that was his plan?" Barry looked to Kara Danvers now, already getting too involved in this Earth and forgetting his goal here, despite two Karas being in his vision. "Mind control? Yeesh!"

"Yep, but I saved everyone, killed him and flew Fort Rozz back into space." Despite the glee in her voice at her achievements, there was a noticeable sadness to her eyes, something Barry knew all too well when it came to taking a life. Kill or be killed.

"Yeah, and I hacked into its computer system and flew the prison ship right back to where it came from," Winn added giddily, "cos you know a lot of those prisoners would have spacesuits available and still be able to get back here even if their base was no longer on the surface."

"Neat!" Barry grinned, "Back to the remains of Krypton or the Phantom Zone?" Kara had told him all about how she got to Earth and how Fort Rozz had followed her out of the Zone the last time Barry had been here.

"Phantom Zone," Winn smirked.

"You flew a space ship, via remote, into deep space?" Cisco asked, amazed now, a whole new respect for the 'ordinary-looking man' in front of him.

"Yep. Was relatively easy, like a game. Actually reminded me of Stellaris…"

"No way! You have that here? I'm on it all the time when I'm not helping Barry out or, you know, working!" Cisco was geeking out around this other techno whiz kid and Barry couldn't help but smirk at the pair – Earth-3's Kara seemed to be enjoying the exchange too, curious of Barry's version of Winn more than anything.

Earth-1's Kara however was both intrigued by the exchange and getting increasingly annoyed at not getting the answers she had come here to readily seek, and only when both boys stopped to breathe did she force herself to speak before the whole group got lost in irrelevant conversation again.

"As fun as that is, that's not why we're here Barry, is it?"

"Oh, yeah, good point," Barry admitted, rubbing a hand to the nape of his neck in mild embarrassment, looking to his Kara before he looked to the original. "My Kara here, she's a clone."

Winn's eyes now focussed on the shorter-haired woman, curious at the reveal of her origins. Kara Danvers paused, gazing at her counterpart and then back to Barry. "I'm sorry; a clone?" Kara asked having just assumed this was just Barry's Earth version of her. She had been ready to ask Barry how he found her and what they were doing here.

"Stray piece of hair… a meta who could clone… it's a long story," Barry said dismissively, taking a breath and not sure how to continue.

Kara Wells though continued from Barry's pause, addressing her other world twin: "I was made – created, born, whatever you want to call it – about two months ago now and have no memories of anything before that; no childhood, no school, no awkward teenage moments… I wanted to find you, Kara of Krypton to find out more, to get insight into who I am, who we are, and maybe then I can feel I have a place in the universe."

Kara Danvers' expression changed from that of curiosity to genuine sadness as she put a kind hand on her clone's shoulder. "My past is my own, Kara – Keira… I wouldn't wish it upon anyone else, but I see your point, I see why you need to know who you are. Is there no Clark Kent on your Earth, no Superman?" She looked to Barry at this who shrugged and shook his head. "Oh." Kara Danvers briefly wondered what Krypton history was on Barry's Earth – questions she would probably never get answers for.

"Are you not going to help me? To help yourself?" Kara Wells asked, dejected and suddenly a bit angry, "Because if you want me to fight you for something, I'm willing…"

"I think we'd be an equal match," Kara Danvers winked to her clone at this, "besides I don't want to fight you for it. I don't want to give you memories I would kill to have taken away – the heartache and the disillusionment."

"But I want that! I want to know what it was like growing up on Krypton, on our home; I want to know what our parents were like, the language we spoke. Even the hardships, the loss and heartache. I need that. I can't be anyone if I'm not you. If I'm not Kara of Krypton."

"Kara Zor-El," Danvers corrected in a deadpan tone, a million thoughts and ideas running past her mind while the three men watched them in silence, "of the House of El" she continued. "If you want to be Kryptonian, houses are important. Mine – ours, was one of the most powerful until the destruction of the planet."

"See! Even I didn't know that! How am I meant to be Kryptonian, how can I embrace who I am if I don't even know where I come from, what my history is meant to be? I mean, I know it's not meant to be the same – I'm a clone after all – but what's the point in living if I have nothing to live for? No memories –"

"Shush," Kara Danvers muttered holding up a hand. "You don't need to convince me anymore. Clark told me his Fortress of Solitude has a magnitude of alien tech, including… yeah… I hope it will work. Kara… what's your last name on the other Earth?"

"Wells," Kara Wells couldn't help but smile at this, fond of Harry whom she had welcomed back in her life pretty quickly. Fond even of her adoptive sister, who she had yet to really meet while she was unconscious.

"Kara Wells? Not bad. Well then, Kara Wells, we're going to take a trip to the North Pole!" Kara Danvers grinned, giving Winn a knowing look.

"I'll come too," Barry immediately interjected, not wanting to be away from the Karas.

"No. If Supergirl is out of town, then The Flash will be needed to keep an eye out for any misfortunes that may befall National." Kara Danvers warned Barry, whose face fell at this.

"But Winn said, since your uncle…" he tried.

"Doesn't mean this weekend's going to be quiet. Lex Luthor's strange sister is in town and giving Maxwell Lord a run for his money, and you know what a pain in my ass Max is," Kara Danvers pointed out.

"Nice try, man," Cisco patted Barry on the back at this seeing the face Barry made.

"See you soon then, Barry" Kara Wells moved forward, a gleeful look on her face as she pecked Barry on the cheek then moved back.

"Do you know how to fly?" Danvers asked.

"Sure. Pretty good with manoeuvring – was the first thing I really perfected with Alex," Wells stated.

"You know Alex?" Danvers grinned, glad that at least her adoptive sister still existed on Barry's Earth. "Right, anyway, follow me." In a second, Kara Danvers' clothes were on the floor, a flash of blue and red streaking out of the open window as she was followed by her double in the casual attire.

"Two Karas…" Winn stated, a little dreamily as he stared at the spot they had been.

"That was so cool!" Cisco added, either about the exchange, the flying, Kara's Super-suit or all three, but then he seemed to come back to himself as he added to Barry: "So is Winn the guy who can help me make my Vibe goggles?" Barry nodded, eyes still on the open window.

"Vibe goggles?" Winn asked, suddenly distracted and intrigued.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	5. The Making of Kara

Like last week, I want to do a dedication to a fellow fanfictioner for this chapter, so Silver-Infinite, while some of your ideas are very much 'out there', you've inspired me in ways I never originally planned or imagined to make this a better story than first drafted. This chapter is for you. Everyone else, I hope you enjoy, read and review! (and yes, between this chapter and the Canary one there's a similar theme if you notice – that is completely unintentional. Or is it...?)

Episode Five – The Making of Kara.

The two Karas landed on the rocky, icy, clifftop in the artic, neither women feeling the cold, but vaguely aware of it as they momentarily took in their surroundings.

"I've only ever been here about two or three times," Kara Danvers confessed to her counterpart as Kara Wells looked over to the icy horizon, amazed at the location, and at the way they had flown unnoticed – amazed by everything, in fact. She turned to look at her other self, a small smile on her face.

"Where is 'here' though?" It was a genuine question as the clone Kara wasn't sure why they had come all the way here.

"Like I said, this my cousin's Fortress of Solitude," Kara Danvers stated, crouching down as she looked for something. Kara Wells would have followed her gaze in the search had her eyes not found something else to distract her: embedded on the icy wall of what looked like the cliff-face, on eye-level, was a symbol; an 'S' enchased in a shape resembling a traditional diamond. It was strangely beautiful.

"What is this?" Kara Wells asked looking of the symbol as Kara Danvers looked up. "You have it on your outfit too. What is it?"

"The symbol of the House of El – humans would call it a house crest. Traditionally it means 'stronger together', but lately it's been known as a symbol of hope," Kara Danvers said still looking around. "Give me a minute here, I've got to find…" before Kara Danvers could finish her sentence or Kara Wells could ask what she was looking for Kara Danvers suddenly shouted, "Here it is!"

Kara Danvers stood up, a long metallic-looking yellow rod in her arms. It looked heavy, but the Wells woman knew her strength, knew it wouldn't weight that much for someone of their calibre. "Here, catch!" Danvers suddenly called, chucking the thing at her double; she catching it with ease but surprised by how heavy it actually was. "Dwarf Star Alloy" Danvers stated knowledgeably, "no idea how Kal, sorry, Clark, knew how to obtain this much. Go on, place that end over the symbol."

"I know a guy who's quite knowledgeable of Dwarf stars," Wells stated as she did as she'd been instructed, obviously talking about Ray Palmer as Dwarf Star technology was sort of his key area of knowledge, what with using its ability to shrink his Atom suit. "Didn't realise how heavy the stuff is."

"That's nothing," Danvers responded as the key touched the symbol, which moved inward before the wall began to rise, Kara Wells dropping the key as Danvers continued, "just wait until you're lifting an entire Kryptonian Prison ship! I mean it wasn't made of kryptonite, but there were elements from home on there, making it more… I dunno, harder to manage, I suppose."

"See, that's what I'm missing," Wells stated as Danvers led her over the threshold, she suddenly caught out of breath as she took in the might of the Fortress, the statue of two humanoids, the alien artefacts and relics. It all felt so… homely and yet so foreign and alien at the same time.

"Good evening Kara Zor-El and Kara Zor-El," a small robot, not unlike Alpha 5 from that Power Rangers show Alex had forced Kara to watch a few weeks back, addressed the pair, Kara Wells backtracking quickly at being addressed with the Kryptonian name and surprised that the robot didn't seem phased by the two identical Karas.

"Hi Kal-X" Kara Danvers addressed the robot, "I'm kind of hoping you can help me – well, us."

"How may I be of assistance, Miss Zor-El?" the robot addressed the official Kara politely, Kara Wells smiling fondly at the little robot, despite the sudden ludicrousness of the situation now.

"Kal-El mentioned the many technologies he's collected over the years, there was mention a few weeks ago of a memory-transplant device, I wonder if it works and if so, how it can work?"

"Yes," Kal-X responded brightly, "its origins are unknown but I have easily been able to work out how to use it. It has the ability to give others false memories, able to implant ideas and thoughts, maybe to confuse an attacker or hope to gain sympathy from an enemy. Why is it you want it?"

"Well, you see my twin here?"

"Kara Zor-El wasn't born as a twin. I had no information to react to your other self than to identify her as you," Kal-X responded, a simple 'yes' not being in his data banks it seemed.

"She's a clone." Kara ignored the twin-thing. "She has no memories, no history of Krypton and I was wondering, well hoping really, if I would be able to give her my memories, and hopefully still keep them for myself too?" There was hope in her voice as Kara Wells now looked between the robot and her double, her eyes suddenly wide.

"It can be done. Kryptonian technology within this facility copied your biometric data and memories the moment you walked in the fortress, I noticed an irregularity with the Kara Zor-El clone. I could copy the most recent memory scan of yourself into the memory drive and implant them safely into your clone's cerebral cortex. If I have permission?"

"Well, Miss Wells, your call." Danvers turned to look directly at her double.

"I didn't travel across dimensions, risked your career with that Grant woman, or flew hundreds of miles to turn the offer down at the last minute." Wells stated eagerly, more than ready for what she had been waiting for, for maybe her entire life. Then again her entire life was not that long, considering.

The original Kara Zor-El turned back to the robot butler, "Permission granted, Kal-X."

-PowerFlash-

Barry had watched the two geeks go at it for what felt like hours. He was of course a geek himself and knew a lot of the mechanics of the device Cisco and Winn were cooking up, but he wasn't paying too much attention, wondering what this world's Kara's plans were with his Kara, and also wondering what the next villain of this world he would be facing – the last time he was here he'd faced Livewire and Silver Banshee, but Kara had shown him some of the ones they had in lockup in the DEO too.

He'd hate to face up against someone like Maxima or that White Martian creature, glad his Earth didn't have more than just Kara as an alien occupant – and she had been a mistake, albeit a happy one.

"Barry?"

"Huh?" Barry blinked, his mind lost on his previous incursion to this world when Winn's voice dragged him out of the blissful abyss, he glancing to the two computer techs, both of who had worried expressions. "What do you want me to get now?" He had collected a few components for the pair to make the new goggles since the Karas had departed.

"I said we have incoming. But she's already here!" Winn stated, a little annoyed as Cisco chuckled to himself.

"She… who?" Barry moved forward to look at the monitor, looking between the pair to a yellow streak, of sorts, being tracked by police cameras on one of the computer screens.

"Another speedster?" Barry was in his Flash suit once more in seconds, even before Winn could answer.

"Not exactly… she's… Oh, he's gone. Does he always do that?" He turned to Cisco who had rammed an earpiece into his ear canal and was already working. Winn was not used to that; in fact, the last time he had done anything like this was when facing up to Indigo and even then he had been surrounded by DEO agents; this was just him and Cisco in a little office at CatCo on a Friday evening. Granted the WiFi was better than DEO because Cat wanted it so, without realising she had the best in National, of course, but still this was new to him.

Barry, however, came to stop just ahead of the yellow streak, which came to a full stop in front of him, the speedster blinking in shock at what he was seeing.

"What are you?" The woman, if it could be called a woman, asked, baring her claws.

"More to the point, what the hell are you?" Barry asked, not even aware of how ludicrous this sudden standoff was becoming.

"They call me Cheetah, and I'm just passing through," she hissed at Barry, who didn't wait as he decided to move forward, aiming a hit which she easily dodged, "but I can see you're going to be a pain!" She retaliated, baring her claws more as she scratched and kicked, quite the adversary. And then she ran, Barry not even waiting as he followed.

She was faster than any speedster he had faced before, giving him quite literally a run for his money and wondering why Zoom didn't go for her instead of Jay – although this one didn't seem to be an actual speedster, the fact she looked more like a human Cheetah, and was called a Cheetah, a clue to her power's origins.

"How do you guys have such meta-humans? Is she an alien?" Barry asked into his com to both Winn and Cisco, the latter obviously not having a clue and Winn not too sure either.

"Well, Livewire was created through a freak accident with Supergirl, and Siobhan got her powers apparently through a curse directly linked to the anger within her, although I don't believe in that kind of magic…" Winn went on, trying to figure it out himself. "I've never seen Cheetah this close or powerful though."

"You know of her?" Barry shouted as he pushed himself forward, running faster and faster, beyond what he thought he was even capable of when suddenly Cheetah vanished. "What?!" He called as he skidded to a quick stop, about to double back when something landed ahead of him.

A woman, slightly tanned, dressed in ancient warrior attire and a headdress, held Cheetah high in her arms – she had literally seemed to have flown in like Kara, although Barry was suspecting an inhumanely long jump, and had obviously gone straight for the cat woman. Her eyes met Barry's as Cheetah struggled above her; she gave him a small smirk and then streaked back into the air. Gone.

"Okay, who was that?" Barry asked in shock.

-SuperFlash-

She was a little girl, barely two or three years old, holding her father's hand. He had to lean down a little so as to keep contact with his daughter, but he didn't mind as they strolled under the red sun, the little girl taking in the world that was her home, the amazing buildings and the ships that flew passed, the other people around her. They were on a field of yellow grass, it warm under her bare feet and she laughed as her father suddenly scooped her up onto his shoulders…

Now she was five, maybe six, and she was in her room overlooking the city. Her aunt Astra was with her, a device in her hand as she spoke in Kryptonese, their natural tongue, together, the elder teaching the younger about the stars, the galaxy. Kara soaked in the information, loving anything her aunt taught her. Maybe it was because she looked like her mom, maybe it was because aunt Astra just radiated love for her niece, Kara didn't know, and at that age didn't care…

At ten she was in the corridors of her family home, peeking through a door at the two identical sisters arguing. She had never seen the women, her mother and aunt, argue like this before. The words were obscure but the meaning behind them was clear as her mother seemed to disown her sister there and then, the shock forcing Kara to move back and trip over her father's feet. She was punished for eavesdropping, but she never found out what the two had truly argued about that day.

Her aunt had been gone for a while. The last Kara saw of her was when she had used their spy toys to contact her. Kara didn't even know if she would ever see her aunt again.

Rumours spread around Krypton like a wild fire. Tales of death. Kara didn't want to believe it, but at twelve she was her own person now and her friends had been telling her for months of the planet's apparent demise. Kara had gone against her mother, rebelling so as to find out the truth and when her worried parents found her they had to reveal all, reluctant though they were, and planned ahead.

She was thirteen and her cousin Kal-El was being born. She had gone to see the baby in the birthing clinic, her Aunt Lara letting her hold the little one almost immediately. Lara wept as she knew Kara would possibly be more of a mother to Kal than she would ever be – Kara knowing of their plans to live beyond Krypton's impending doom.

It was time of panic on the planet; war, as all sorts of bad events, happened at once – her uncle, Jor-El, had fought an almost losing battle against Dru-Zod, who wanted to save a planet that was doomed from the start. It was chaos and all Kara could do was cling tightly to her family as they made final preparations to send both Kal-El and herself away. She didn't want to go; she didn't quite understand death yet at such a tender age, but she knew she'd be with her mother and father no matter what. She'd learned family was important in the past year.

Tears were streaming down her face as the planet she knew as home imploded, collapsing in on itself in a matter of seconds, a shockwave blasting out from the pressure, rocking her pod, the electrics going wild but she didn't care, all she could do was cry for her mother, her father, her family and her people. All the heritage, all the memories… all gone.

Suddenly she had crashed landed on the Earth and a man who looked like her uncle was leaning over her, wearing their house symbol upon his chest and trying to explain who he was in a very bad variation of Kryptonese. She knew she had failed at what her mother wanted her to do, knowing she had not protected Kal-El, and not yet knowing why. What had happened to make the baby become the man before her…

Quick flashes of memories suddenly encased Kara Wells' mind as she experienced Earth-3 first-hand through the eyes of her double, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she sped through over ten years in a few seconds compared to what seemed like years of Kryptonian memories, coming back to the here-and-now, the Fortress of Solitude and Kal-X between the pair, holding a thin blue rod to Kara Wells' scalp. She collapsed as the memories overwhelmed her, Kara Danvers only just catching her.

"You said it wouldn't harm her!" The original Kara called to Kal-X, who sped off to put the memory device back where it had come. Kara Danvers heading right for her clone and looking her over.

"It won't, Miss Zor-El; her mind needs to process all the memories. It will take time. Kryptonian minds are resilient though," Kal-X informed her upon his return.

"And she remembers? All my memories from Krypton? What about after that, on Earth?"

"The Krypton memories are the ones she needed more," Kal-X reflected, "but she did collect your memories here as Kara Danvers. Those will fade quickly though as those aren't her own, they are not part of her parallel Earth."

"Good," Kara nodded, secretly glad this Kara wasn't going to turn into an exact copy of her – she was happy she had gotten the memories treasured of home, but Eliza and Alex, Cat and Winn… they were hers and no one was going to take that away from her.

"How long was that? She sort-of went into a trance when you put the device on her…?"

"Three and a half Earth hours, Miss Zor-El," Kal-X replied noncommittally.

"Wow, it didn't seem that long!" Kara whistled appreciatively. "Am I okay to move her? I should probably take her back to Barry."

"Barry Allen is the Flash. Kal-El has collected much information about the speed-force and the speedster himself since his first time on this planet, including those of his elder double here on this Earth. Please, give the parallel Kara Zor-El these when she wakes to take back with her," Kal-X had gone to a hidden part of the Fortress and returned with what Kara assumed was some sort of Kryptonian goodie-bag, albeit in the form of a small sphere. "It is compatible with this Earth's technology; by logic it should also be compatible with others."

"And what is it?" Kara Danvers asked, trying to look through it with her X Ray vision but unable to. In fact, she couldn't even tell what the object was made of.

"Hope, information, and memories," Kal-X responded conspiratorially.

-PowerFlash-

"What's the chances that that… thing comes into town the moment Kara leaves?" Barry asked back in the Supergirl Office, ripping off his mask as he faced Cisco and Winn with a little annoyance.

"It wasn't your fight," Winn pointed out.

"Yeah, about that, who was the other woman?" It was dark outside now, the night setting in nicely and Barry was, for once, not thinking about Kara, too curious of the warrior woman who had stopped that speeding cheetah girl.

"Xena?" Cisco suggested, glancing coyly to Winn before he added, "But Barry, do you realise how fast you were going? Caitlin's going to freak when we get back!" Cisco continued in excitement. Barry had never gone that fast without the speed canon / tachyon device before.

"If we can get back," Barry warned. "How are you getting on with the new goggles?"

"Oh what, these?" Cisco pulled up a very odd-looking version of the Reverb goggles he owned, made from odds and ends found about the city – Barry noticed the butchered remains of a cell phone among other things.

"Those are going to work?" Barry asked, sceptically.

"Winn and I make a good team! Shame he won't come back with us," Cisco added, glancing at his latest pal.

"I have my place here with Kara and James," Winn stated, a little subdued now as he had obviously got on well with Cisco.

Barry sat back down on the couch, looking at the pair as Cisco rolled his eyes at the Flash's nonchalant manner, turning back to give his goggles the once over as the speedster looked back at Winn, "So, Cheetah and the Warrior… what's their story?"

"Not a clue," Winn replied truthfully, "Cat calls her 'The Amazonian', Perry White though dubs her 'Wonder Woman' –"

"Perry has tastes. Wonder Woman – unusual and kinda catchy," Cisco interrupted before Winn continued, slightly taken aback.

"Well anyway, she's kind of… well, her records go back for hundreds of years, but like I said, I don't know much. She's been friends with Kara's cousin from what I can gather, but James has never spoken to her and I'm not exactly friends with Clark Kent, myself." The technician seemed to pout at this as he added quickly, "but no clue about Cheetah – she's new, but dubbed herself that title back in Metropolis last week. Pretty obvious title that though, I suppose." This he added, glancing to Cisco who didn't seem to have heard.

They were all saved from responding when there was a rush of air and Barry found himself on the floor, a familiar woman in a floral dress and sweater laying on the seat as Supergirl addressed him;

"You faced Cheetah?" She had obviously heard their conversation with her super-hearing from afar.

"What happened to her? Is she okay?" Barry ignored Supergirl's question to move by his Kara's side.

"She'll be fine" Kara immediately reassured Barry. "She's been given a copy of my memories thanks to some salvaged alien tech. So, what happened here?"

"Cheetah and The Amazonian turned up," Winn told Supergirl, jumping up at the sight of her, and using Cat's title for the superheroine which Supergirl obviously preferred.

"Shame I missed that. Clark said he would introduce me to her, but three superheroes… well, we haven't exactly found the time," Supergirl pouted herself now as she turned back to Barry and placed a hand on his shoulder, seeing the look on his face as he stared at the unconscious Kara on the couch. "Barry, she's going to be fine. I think it may be best for her to wake up in her world, surrounded by her friends, just in case she latches on to my life instead. I mean, I'm happy to have two Supergirls protecting National, but I think this one deserves to be by your side. Plus, Maxwell would go ballistic with two of me about…"

Cisco stood, realising his time here was at and end, but before he put on the new goggles he turned to Winn. "I'll send you postcards, throw them through a breach into your lap if you want?"

"Hah, I'd like that. I'm sure Kara would like to know how her double is doing too. Let me know about the suit too… Oh, and before I forget!" Winn moved his hand to the back of his neck and removed a necklace he had been covering the whole time. Barry and Supergirl watched on in mild humour as a Superman or Supergirl memorabilia necklace – they were both the same, a silver-cast symbol of El on a chain – appeared in Winn's hand, which he passed over to Cisco. "It may be a help."

"Thanks man!" Cisco clasped the necklace in his palm before going in to hug his new friend.

Barry looked at Supergirl. "We barely got to talk," he stated, a little downtrodden now.

"Write me a postcard" Supergirl winked as Barry couldn't resist a grin. "Come back some time soon though. I could always use my partner."

"Maybe we will come and visit, so you two can catch up." He glanced to the Kara on the couch, trying not to remember the other time she lay unconscious – in STAR Labs when her connection to Duplicate had been severed – "and then we can get ice cream."

"I'd like that, Flash." Supergirl pulled Barry in for a tight squeeze, resisting using her full strength of course, as she whispered in his ear: "This has been educational."

They pulled apart, Barry looking to Cisco, now in the new goggles, with his hand outstretched.

"You can do that anywhere?" Winn asked, Kara now having no clue what was about to happen, as Cisco didn't reply, just concentrated and smirked.

Barry scooped up his Kara in his arms and turned to see that the goggles must have been working – the familiar blue glow was encasing Cisco's hand once more, it expanding quickly as Supergirl gasped. Barry moved behind Cisco and glanced to Supergirl. "Keep back, the moment we go through it will close tightly." Supergirl and Winn nodded as Barry vanished in a streak of red before Cisco followed – Barry having come back through to grab Vibe.

Then the breach, indeed, snapped shut.

-PowerFlash-

Caitlin had been in a panic. Ray had managed to calm her down, but still, it was only when Harry returned an hour after Cisco had been pulled through his own breach by that horrible spectre that the bio-engineer took some calming breaths. Cisco was resourceful, Harry had reminded her, he'd find a way to get back – they had found his Reverb glasses on the floor too, but Cisco had explored that thing inside and out several time to get to know how they worked, he could recreate it.

It seemed Harry was right – five hours after they had left, the sudden rippling portal stretched out space exactly where it had been before, there was a flash of lightning and Kara Wells lay on floor, another flash and the Flash and Cisco, complete with odd-job glasses appeared to all. Barry, as usual, ripped off his mask to run over to Kara, while Caitlin wrapped her best friend in a big hug, Cisco grinning in spite of himself.

"I never saw that thing coming. Was that… him?" She asked in the hug, slightly tearful.

"Sort of. I don't want to think about it. He was gone when I reached the other side though," Cisco admitted, mentioning the black wraith that had taken him through his own breach. He nodded at a grinning Ray behind Caitlin before his friend withdrew from the embrace.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked, but Cisco quickly waved her off, moving over to Barry who was crouched, with Harry, over the still-sleeping Kara.

"Jay's world isn't dead," Barry was telling Harry as the other scientist checked his adopted daughter's eyes for any sign of concussion – or anything at al. He made a mental note to talk to Alex when she returned to know how they checked Kara's health at ARGUS. "He comes from Earth-3! Cat Grant let it slip that he was the protector of their Central City. I wonder how Jay could have gone so wrong?"

"Wait, Ms. Grant said that?" Cisco cut in as Barry looked up to him.

"Yeah, she mentioned something about Kara's cousin and a Starman, I thought David Bowie, but obviously…"

"It seems these other worlds have a lot more to offer, Mr. Allen," Harry stood up, his hand clenched around something as he stated, "it is possible though that Jay overshot his Earth to that of the doomed planet, or he wasn't concentrating hard enough on his. We still have a lot to figure out about interdimensional travel and I believe Doctor Stein may help us."

"Stein's back?" Barry asked, distracted by this comment.

"Mr. Palmer's here; it's only a matter of time before his time-travelling companion returns, too" Harry speculated.

"What's that?" Barry nodded to the thing in Harry's hand.

"Kara, she had it on her…" Harry stated innocently, Barry moving too fast for him as he claimed it from the man's hand. "Hey!" Harry protested.

"It's solid…" Barry observed, not seeing any seams.

"Yeah, and the metal, it's… unusual" Ray had moved in, looking the object over in Barry's hand.

He didn't think – Barry just acted. Vibrating both his hands in the opposite directions, he cracked the sphere, it falling into two complete halves and revealing three objects: two of what looked like pen drives and a container with a few drops of dark blood. There was note, it looked to be printed and was in an unusual and unrecognizable font:

 _The larger is a holographic drive which Kara Zor-El will find useful and informative. The smaller is a memory storage device, containing all the memories of Kal-El up until his last visit to the Fortress. The vial contains Kal-El's blood – use it wisely. Keep all three safe. – Kal-X, last relic of Krypton._

Barry looked up at Cisco at this, Caitlin, Ray and Harry remaining silent as there was a sudden gasp and Kara was sitting up. Barry was by her side in a flash, the others turning to her, as she looked around, confused.

"Barry? What… I remember… Oh, so much…" she lolled her head back on her shoulders and shook it, "I'm Kara Wells, right? I keep thinking Danvers… Eliza…"

"You're Kara Wells indeed," Harry said this, moving once more to her other side as she looked at him and smiled. "I take it, it worked? Whatever 'it' is."

Kara was about to reply when she noticed the things in Barry's hand – a clenched up piece of paper and three odd objects. She could just make out the word 'Kal-X' on the paper. "He wrote to me?"

Barry looked to the things in his hands, then shrugged to himself. What harm could it do? These objects were clearly meant for Kara anyway and given to her by the other Kara and this Kal-X relic. He handed the paper and objects to Kara, the paper she read with speed before putting a hand over her mouth in shock. "Did Kal-X expect us to clone Kal-El? And a holographic drive?" She jumped up, turning to Cisco. "Plug it in."

"What?" Cisco asked, as she forced the drive into his hand.

"Plug it in, I have to know what it contains." Kara practically pleaded this.

Cisco glanced to Barry before sighing and moving over to their computer banks. They had holographic technology since Barry lost his powers to Zoom, using it with skill against the evil speedster with Caitlin a few months ago, so it wasn't hard to direct the projection into the room – the drive was extremely compatible with their computers; Cisco had had no problems working with Winn's computers after all.

Kara moved forward as a flicking image of a woman in a blue dress with long, flowing black hair appeared in the room. She was smiling in Kara's direction and Kara smiled back at her, her heart lifting for the first time since Barry agreed to take her to Earth-3. She felt Barry's hand entwine in hers now as she whispered to the holographic figure: "Mom?"

"Hello sweetheart" the woman replied.

Kara no longer felt so alone.

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _Found him though," Ray pointed out after Cisco was done ranting. "Another land-drowning victim by the theatre. Weird. You know what to do. Call me if you need the Atom." There was a slight longing in his voice at wanting to go back on the field as Atom – it had been almost a week since he'd put on the suit after all, but Central was Flash territory and Ray would respect that. He'd wait for Barry to ask him for help._

" _And it's not Supergirl. I may have her memories but, I dunno," Kara pointed out, glancing to Barry now in indication that they should go._

" _Well until I think up something better, I'll call you Supes," Cisco smirked, Kara rolling her eyes but not having anything against this as Barry nodded to her and they both sped from the Labs._

* * *

Post-chapter Note: I did _not_ realise what kind of pressure I was putting on myself when posting up the previous chapter – I hoped this lived up to the expectations I set up! If not, well I plan to return to Earth-3 again later in this season, so I can work on making up what I've missed then. Also, while on the subject of Earth-3, as some of you may know, my beta and Karry Master, CharmedMilliE has started a petition to cease and desist Kara/James' romance in the actual show of Supergirl, I know it's a little foolhardy, but it's something the pair of us have a passion for (well, against, but you get the idea). I'll put a link in my bio so you can sign, so please head on there to have a look.


	6. A Powerful Debut

I apologise for the delay in posting up this chapter. While I do reiterate that this story is to be updated on either Monday _or_ Tuesdays, to coincide with both Supergirl and Flash, I didn't mean to leave this so late, so I hope the delay in updating doesn't affect readers and reviews. Also, as there's been no complaints to the contrary on my 'dedicating' chapters to reviewers, this week I'd like to give a shout out to reviewer  Brittania4ever who's always been around to give me a little encouraging nudge.

Episode Six – A Powerful Debut.

"Duplicate?" Cat Grant sighed, leaning back in her chair to reread the article from the clone meta's attack the other day. "Girder? Blackout? Really?" She sat in her new makeshift-office on the other-side of the Central City Picture News' floor, looking across to Iris who sat on the desk opposite her. Cat didn't look amused and, in fact, looked slightly disappointed that such names had been created, leaning forward in her chair now she removed her glasses as she contemplated. "It seems this city lacks creativity."

"With all due respect, Ms. Grant," Iris risked, sitting on the opposite side of the desk and wanting to defend her friend who had named all but one of the so far mentioned metas, "they are unofficial titles, named by those at STAR Labs –"

"That's another thing," Cat now stood, momentarily glancing to the flat screen TVs temporarily stacked across high desks against the back wall for any development on other news networks. "STAR Labs has been in seclusion, should we say, for nearly two and a half years now. Ever since the accident they seem to have been only focussing their efforts on clearing up their messes and helping their token hero, the Flash."

"So?" Iris countered. "Considering the damage they initially did in changing so many people…"

"They need a new market. They need to reopen and reveal themselves openly to the public, to not be the bad guys they're so far associated by. The face of Harrison Wells is no longer their trademark; a fast man in a red suit is their slogan, and they need to market that. I need contacts, people who I can convince if you're not willing to do so yourself."

Iris wasn't sure what to say to this now. Who would be willing to talk to the press to 'change their image' out of the gang, and how damaging would it be if Earth-2's Harry was discovered to be there, when his likeness was meant to be dead? She wasn't sure how far he'd gotten along into getting an identity since his return, having barely seen Barry or anyone from the Labs since Cat made Iris her Personal Assistant. Was it worth calling up Caitlin, maybe? She didn't want to put STAR into any more negative light than they had already been these past few years.

"On another note," Cat moved back to her desk, lowing her voice slightly as she leaned upon the desk, "the profile on that clone making meta-human I'd like in my inbox by the end of the day. The people know she made another Flash and that strange blond girl several weeks ago, but they need to know who she was, what she was capable of and, most importantly, that they, the public, are safe from her."

"Yes Ms. Grant" Iris mumbled, her judgement clouded now by Cat's presence. She had never done so much work before and it seemed like her life revolved around Cat Grant and CatCo, but with the addition of screening others capable of taking over her job as Cat's PA, she didn't really have much time to think beyond Ms. Grant's words these days.

-PowerFlash-

"Doctor Snow!" Harrison was calling over the speaker system at STAR Labs, there was panic in his voice as he cried to the doctor again, Caitlin rushing to this location on every syllable of desperation to find a sorry situation. Harry was trying his best, but Jesse was clearly suffering from multiple heart palpitations and no matter what he did, nothing seemed to be working.

"This happened to Barry while he was in his coma!" Caitlin cried, moving over to Harry's side to pull him away from his daughter. "And a clouded judgement isn't going to help her. I need to stabilize her vitals before anything else. Pass me the liquid sedatives, I need to pump it into her system quickly."

Harry did as was instructed, Caitlin quickening the process, remembering – as if on instinct – what the fake Harrison Wells had done to keep Barry in check during his less-than-great moments while comatose. She hadn't known at the time, but Eobard Thawne knew exactly how to help the Flash and by learning from him then, she would help Jesse now. Thawne's evil would be put to some good.

Within a few minutes Jesse's vitals dropped dramatically though, Harry's panicking not helping and only when Caitlin used the defibrillating paddles did it yield results, but only briefly before she starting dropping again.

"Keep trying!" Harry insisted after the fourth attempt, by which time Ray had joined them, he having lingered in STAR Labs for some days now, with Caitlin seeming to be the one to truly benefit from his lingering – especially since she seemed much happier around the goofy scientist since he'd turned up.

"What's wrong?" Ray moved around Harry to see Caitlin jump-starting the young girl. "Too many times and you'll cause irreparable damage." Ray pointed out a little warningly.

"Don't you think I know that?" Caitlin snapped, Ray backing off now.

"Call Allen," Harry suddenly stated. "Now!"

Neither questioned the man as Ray reluctantly took over, Caitlin calling up her friend who was currently at work, not having a clue what was happening at STAR Labs; he was at the Labs though within seconds however, a look of panic and determination on his face as Ray was forced to jump-start Jesse again, she looking even worse for wear now from when she'd first arrived in her comatose condition.

"What…?" Barry asked, moving over to Jesse's side as he looked to Caitlin once more, she looking worried as Harry didn't waste time by playing games now.

"The speed-force Barry, whatever you did last time – do it again!" Harry snapped to the Flash.

"But it didn't…" Barry had no clue what was going on, worried for everyone as he looked to Caitlin again then to Ray.

"We're losing her!" Ray suddenly shouted, Barry looking panicked as he glanced back to Harry.

He reached for Jesse's hand, just like the first time he'd brought her out of her sleep, but instead of a simple spark passing between the pair, Barry felt something much different. No-one knew what had happened until there was a crack of unmistakeable thunder within the room and a flash of bright electric light, Barry feeling himself pass through his own hand and into Jesse; a residual ghost of the speed-force which had been only in himself. Until this moment.

Jesse gasped and then moaned, Barry blinking several time to rid the light that had flashed up as his skin made contact with hers to see Jessica Wells' eyes opening, a look of momentarily panic on her face before a small smile crossed over her lips. "Barry…?" she asked simply.

"Yeah," Barry replied, a small smile across his face as there was a sudden movement and Harry was by his daughter's other side, tears tracking down his face as the stress and worry of the past week finally erupted. He was grinning in spite of himself and Jesse, looking tired and slightly lost, patted her dad on the hand closest to hers, both resting on her bedside table as he let loose on his emotions.

"Jesse," Kara was by the door, she having appeared out of nowhere but having in fact been in her makeshift training room, as usual, until this moment. She was grinning at seeing her foster sister awake and her father ecstatically happy by her bedside. Jesse blinked at the girl she didn't know calling her name and smiled, slightly confused.

"I need to check you over," Caitlin voiced a little timidly now, although feeling relieved that they hadn't lost Jesse this time around.

Ray looked pleased at this, not doing too well in these sort of life-or-death situations, so he was the first to leave, followed by a rather reluctant Harry and finally Barry, who still had Jesse's hand in his. He squeezed the hand momentarily before walking into the Cortex, Harry leaning against the glass to look in on his daughter while Kara stood resolutely beside him, not saying a word.

"Busy morning?" Cisco walked into the Cortex, noticing everyone congregating before looking beyond into the medical wing and grinning. "She's awake! Excellent! How long 'til she wants to leave again though?" He winked at Barry who couldn't help but smile at this.

"I think she's a speedster though, like definitely a speedster." Barry moved over to Cisco, Ray listening in as Barry quickly explained to Vibe about what he felt when he made contact with Jesse, the noise and the light, the sheer science fiction of the event.

"Man that sounds awesome. Shame I missed it." Cisco moved to the computer banks to take up his daily position, Ray taking the spare seat Caitlin normally occupied. "I wonder what it was like for her though?" Cisco suddenly voiced. "I mean; she was in a coma like you, but only for a week. I remember when you went into that condition, more than once. Wells – Eobard – helped but never made contact with your skin, usually wearing gloves during that time. I reckon he didn't want to wake you too early, knowing how long you had to be out, and being a speedster himself…"

"It's a thought," Barry replied a little coolly, not wanting to think of the Reverse-Flash, all the hell the yellow speedster had put him through.

"You've made her a suit." This was Ray, he was looking at Cisco deeply, analysing his features, the look in his eyes, realising what Cisco's excitement had meant.

"So what if I have? If she's going to be a speedster, the mere G-Force she'll have to face, normal fabrics wouldn't survive – I only want to save her wardrobe. Girls are all about that after all, their clothes."

"Jesse spent a week in second-hand STAR Labs merchandise," Barry pointed out, bemusedly. "Granted, she'd just had been rescued from Zoom, but clothes really aren't her forte."

"They will be when she sees what I've cooked up for her," Cisco smirked.

"It's pretty cool actually," Kara had joined them, being the only one who had seen the suit so far. Barry looked back to see Caitlin talking to Harry and Jesse, still on the bed and conscious.

"She's feeling alright?" Barry asked, cutting off conversations of Cisco's sewing skills before he got into a self-righteous rant.

"Yeah, a little woozy from all the CPR before you saved her but otherwise right as rain. Dad's explaining to her about what she may now be facing, what she's like… along with explaining me." Kara didn't quite meet either men's eyes at this, Barry knowing that Harry really hadn't explained about adopting an alien clone as Jesse's sister, but he'd assured Kara on more than one occasion since her and the Wells' return that Jesse would love her nonetheless.

He was about to reassure Kara again when familiar alarm bells rang out on the computers, Barry not even asking Cisco what was up before he was in his Flash suit and looking over Vibe's shoulder.

"There's an attack by the waterfront. Several people seemed to have drowned on land, this isn't good," Cisco muttered, pulling up security footage for the three looking over his shoulder now. "Oh, that's kind of cool… in a bad way." On the screen was a tall humanoid figure, except he was completely see-through and looking like he was made of water. In fact, he probably was as Cisco played back footage from one of the street camera of something jumping from the water's edge on a group of teenagers, no physical entity noticeable until several of the teenagers were on the floor and choking up water – water which formed into the person they had first seen.

"You're going to need me to help," Kara suddenly stated. "I can freeze it, or maybe evaporate it…?"

"That's a good idea. If you can get him to the pipeline, we should be able to keep him contained, even as a puddle," Cisco grinned.

"No. I don't like that idea" Barry quickly pointed out as Ray now started typing up on the system, finding out where the water meta-human had gone since. Barry didn't know if he liked the idea of Kara facing a meta yet. "Can't we use Siren again? Surely her scream could disrupt the genetic structure of this water meta…?"

"I can do it Barry" Kara said calmly, "besides, Siren can't be trusted, at least without backup."

Barry bit his lip. Cisco looking around to him as he muttered, "Kara kind of also has a suit, Bar…" he nodded to Kara who, like Barry, vanished in a flash, and returned a few seconds later in the incomplete outfit Cisco had shown her a few days ago – pale-blue boots, off-white jumpsuit and matching eye mask. There were no gloves with this outfit.

"It's snug," she added to Cisco, who raised an eyebrow and mumbled 'snug?' under his breath as she turned to Barry.

"Fine," Barry sighed, "but first sign of danger and you let me go ahead, I can cocoon this water person in an air pocket if I run around him fast enough, maybe a lightning strike would disable him?" This was questioned to Cisco.

"Electricity might work. Best bet is to freeze him and shatter him. He'll be disabled long enough to being back here in pieces and in containment," Cisco thought aloud. "It seems he can exist in the smaller form somehow, but not as a whole entity. Then, once locked up I can find out who he is. There's a missing persons list still a mile long from when the accelerator exploded, many could be unknown metas now, or…"

"Dead?" Ray piped up before his face fell at Cisco's look. "Oh, yeah, we need to feel sombre about that fact. Could it also be this water guy is from Harry and Jesse's earth? Cait mentioned Zoom taking the metas from his earth to take over this one."

"Anything's possible but I thought we got most of those," Cisco stated, now mouthing the nickname 'Cait?' to Barry now, none of them having really called her that abbreviated-name much.

"Right. Then it's the Flash and Supergirl after… what do you want to call him?" Barry asked Cisco.

"Dunno yet," Cisco shrugged. "Maybe Water Menace. No…. Water Flow…. No. not that. It doesn't sound…. Oh I got it! H2–"

"No. Anything 'H2' related would just be stupid" Ray pointed out with a smirk, Cisco staring at him with slightly open-mouth.

"I suppose…" the Vibe finally muttered. "Who would think of something like that? I'll figure something out."

"Found him though," Ray pointed out now. "Another land-drowning victim by the theatre. Weird. You know what to do. Call me if you need the Atom." There was a slight longing in his voice at wanting to go back on the field as Atom – it had been almost a week since he'd put on the suit after all, but Central was Flash territory and Ray would respect that. He'd wait for Barry to ask him for help.

"And it's not Supergirl. I may have her memories but, I dunno," Kara pointed out, glancing to Barry now in indication that they should go.

"Well until I think up something better, I'll call you Supes," Cisco smirked, Kara rolling her eyes but not having anything against this as Barry nodded to her and they both sped from the Labs.

"Snug!" Cisco finally groaned aloud, remembering Kara's comment about the suit. "I'll have to do something about that…"

-PowerFlash-

Supes and the Flash stopped outside the theatre district within five seconds of leaving the Lab. It wasn't as glamorous as New York, London or even Chicago's theatres, but there were enough to put on a few shows every now and then and already the police were cordoning off the area; Joe for once not being around to give Barry the details.

Several eyes moved to the new masked hero by the Flash as the pair looked at the body, but Flash wasn't paying attention, he was looking for any signs of the water meta being near, although his eyes did fall on several wet manhole covers on this dry day. Before he could point these out to Kara, Cisco's voice called his attention on the communicator.

"Barry. You need to get back here; Jesse's went back into cardiac arrest!"

"What?!" Barry glanced to Kara, who looked worried now having heard this in her coms earpiece too. He had to make a split decision and didn't like either choice he decided on the lesser of two evils: "Supes, look to the drains, our meta may be lurking in the sewage, I should…"

"Go, Flash!" Kara demanded of him. "I've got this. I think." She already sped to one of the manhole covers, ripping it off as the Flash vanished in a gust of wind. She couldn't distract herself by thinking to Jesse, so landed in the gutter below the theatre, her x ray vision kicking in as she looked around. There was a knee-high amount of dirty water she kept away from – floating an inch above it, although having to tilt her head due to lack of height – but no sign of any strange water-made meta human.

"What's going on?" Kara asked into her coms device, wanting to know if any eyes were being kept out for the water meta and also wanting to know about Jesse.

"Any sign of Hydroman?" This was Cisco.

"Is that what you're calling him? Finally made a decision." Kara smirked, floating in the stink of the drain. "No sign. Is Jesse okay?"

"Barry brought her back again, not sure how. I think it's to do with the speed-force; it looks like he can't leave her side for the moment," Cisco stated.

"I'm on my own?" Kara was a bit nervous at this but took a breath. She could do this on her own. Barry had been on his own when he started and so were the original Kara and Clark of Earth-3 – she could do this.

"Yep. And in the sewers already – good first day on the job," Cisco teased.

"Oh shut up," Kara snapped, "can you tell me any clues as to where Hydro… whatsits-called could have gone?"

"Oh yeah, well the drainage system for the city slopes east to the processing plant – it might be an indication of where he's gone. And it's Hydroman."

"Okay genius," Kara teased, gently floating forward, heading the direction she believed to be east, "Hey, tell me something. Why exactly are we locking him up? I mean he could be an evil meta from Earth-2, he could also be some sort of bad guy turned to water… but he could equally be a good guy caught in a bad situation…"

"Above you Kara," Cisco mentioned, Kara wasn't listening however.

"I mean, okay so he killed a couple of kids by the docks and that one guy at the theatre, but he doesn't know his abilities, he could have been like Barry and Jesse – comatose until recently and just woken without realising the extent of his powers…"

"You passed him Kara."

"I know I had no control over my powers when I started; I almost killed Duplicate by blasting off her finger! If it wasn't for Barry and Alex and travelling to Earth-3 and meeting my other self –" Kara continued not even listening to Cisco.

"Kara you passed him two blocks ago!" Cisco snapped causing Kara to jump a bit and hit her head, he having had enough of her rant but amused by it nonetheless. "And whether Hydroman is killing because he can control it is irrelevant; we keep the public safe, even if it means putting away some people with powers."

"Fine, but I am not done with this topic!" Kara stated, locating the nearest manhole cover and flying out of the sewers – much to the astonishment of some of the public – to head back the way she came and away from the smell.

It wasn't hard to find the meta. He hadn't gone as far as she and Barry had initially believed and seemed to be having some sort of meltdown, pun not intended, near the college. Kara flew over the scene to see what was definitely a man, made of water, shooting jets of water in every direction, screaming in some gargled tongue as students and adults ran for cover. This time, no one seemed to be drowning, or dead, so Kara decided she wasn't going to allow Hydroman to repeat this bad move.

"Remember Kara, freeze him then shatter him – you're fast enough to get the pieces back before he does a Terminator 2 on us, okay?"

"I have a better plan," Kara stated, floating down confidently in front of Hydroman, narrowly avoiding a blast of water and ignoring Cisco's protests in her ear. "Hi, err, hello." Kara stated to Hydroman, the meta stopping in shock, seeming to calm down upon seeing her.

"You can fly?" His voice was gargled, like he was speaking through a mouth full of water, which was reason enough given his condition. Kara wasn't sure but he seemed generally surprised by the ability.

"And you're made of water. We could talk about our special abilities all day but something tells me neither of us have that time."

"What… what happened to me?" Hydroman gurgled, Kara looking as clearly as she could to his face to see he didn't look that old. Under twenty at the very least.

"Who are you?" She asked smoothly, kindly.

"Cole… Cole Denier" he muttered, "I don't know what happened!"

"Come with me. Please. I have friends at STAR Labs; they can help you. They _will_ help you" The determination in her voice was more for Cisco's benefit, who was listening in, than for Cole's.

"STAR Labs! They exploded!" In his excitement, or fear, he seemed to solidify momentarily – or become more opaque – before going back to watery, gooey, look. Kara ignored the cameras and commentators from spectators and a building news crew as she focussed on Cole. "I was going swimming, I'm on the swim team here, and there was an explosion and then… I don't know."

"That was over two years ago Cole," Kara stated reasonably. "The world has changed since then, and so has STAR Labs."

"T-Two years?!" Cole spluttered. "But… my friends… my family."

"We'll find them. We'll help. If you just come with me?"

-PowerFlash-

"Well this is a new way of doing things," Cisco commented as Kara walked calmly and coolly into the Cortex, followed by the very watery and very unusual-looking Hydroman – Cole Denier. Cisco had looked up Cole's record to find his story matched: He was an athlete at the Central City University three years ago and had been apparently on track to go to the Olympics. He went missing on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion. He was a good kid, Straight-B student and an only child. His family had since moved away when they had lost hope in their son's survival.

"How's Jesse?" Kara asked, giving Cole a small smile nonetheless as she looked over to the medical bay to see Barry sitting with his back to the Cortex, talking to her sister.

"It seems the speed-force needs time to stabilize in her system now that she's awake." Harry had been watching from afar as he addressed his daughter, "I think twenty-four hours will be enough to allow Barry to leave here."

"You mean he can't leave the labs until she's better?" Kara looked over her dad's shoulder to see Jesse glancing to her while talking to Barry; she forced herself not to listen in as she imagined Barry was forcing himself not to look to Kara now – her overprotective… friend. She didn't know what she and Barry were, but she didn't try to think too hard about it, especially as she felt the same way Kara Danvers had felt about him, and that was more than friends, she knew.

"I think you can talk to her," Harry replied smoothly, ignoring her question. "Ray, Ramone and myself will look over Mr. Denier. Or I'll join them in looking him over. How fascinating. Did he say he was going for a swim when the accelerator exploded?"

"Yeah," Kara muttered, looking back to her latest acquaintance to see Cisco running a device over him and Cole smiling as Ray muttered scientific terms even Kara had no clue about.

"I would suspect his DNA mutated to become part of the water, two and a half years later and his consciousness may have finally re-gained self-awareness and his body followed. Or whatever his body is. Anyway, you speak to Jesse, I'll make sure Mr. Ramone doesn't lock 'Hydroman' up for crimes against nature or something."

Kara scoffed as Harry patted her on the shoulder, he moving one way and she to the other and the doorway of the medical bay. Caitlin was by a computer, looking over thermal readings of Jesse by the looks of it while Barry leaned in to a chair, back in his day clothes; his Flash outfit back on the stand, she'd noticed.

"You need a cape," was Jesse's first words as she looked to Kara with a smirk. "And a symbol. Barry has the lightning; you need something…"

"I do like the idea of a cape," Kara stated, taking a seat next to Barry who silently put an arm around her shoulders, causing Jesse to smirk and Kara to blush. "And it helps my counterpart fly better so yeah, a cape is a must."

"So, you're my new sister, huh? I never thought dad could love another like me. I was always his Jesse Quick."

"I don't want to step on your toes! It was dad – I mean, Harry's idea, not mine. I mean, if you don't want to be sisters, I'm fine with that." She wasn't, secretly, but Jesse had lived on a pedestal in her mind ever since she'd first found out about her adopted big sister and Kara didn't want to get in her way if she was.

"It's fine, Kara, honestly." Jesse shifted position on her bed, moving up a bit more so she was sitting properly. "I'm glad dad has someone else. He can get quite suffocating at times I warn you, but with two daughters… maybe we can be treated with equal amount of love instead of just in one big blast."

"Any love will be nice," Kara smiled as Jesse glanced to Barry at this, Kara trying not to decide what this could mean, as Jesse seemed to move the conversation.

"You're an alien then? Well, an alien clone?"

"Yeah, but I have the memories of a full life now; it's pretty cool to know who I am, what I come from." Kara smiled in spite of herself.

"And you're saving Central alongside the Flash? I think you need a better name than Supergirl or even 'Supes' – yeah, I heard you." She glanced into the Cortex, having overheard the new name, where her dad and the others were now examining Cole.

"Why don't you like Supergirl?" This time it was Barry who spoke. "I liked it."

"I don't," Kara turned to him now. "It just doesn't feel right. I don't feel… super." Kara paused for a moment. "Besides, not even the other Kara liked it at first. Although it wasn't the 'super' part she had a problem with." Kara knew Earth-3's Kara problem had been the 'girl' part – Kara herself didn't mind being called a girl; she wasn't so sure about being called 'super'.

"I thought the memories of her Earth faded leaving only the Kryptonian memories?" Barry asked, a bit surprised.

"They have, but they are still there – like I'm barely able to recall. I remember her time as Supergirl best and for some reason Cat Grant yelling at me…"

Barry smiled to himself. "Cat Grant makes an unforgettable impact," he mumbled.

"Well, you are super even if you don't think so," Jesse stated switching the topic back on track.

"I feel powerful, don't get me wrong, but super? Not really. I don't deserve the title. I haven't earned it anyway." Kara avoided her sister's eyes now, and Barry's, as she pretended to look at Caitlin this time.

"You won't have to wait long though," Barry pointed out. "Cat Grant's in town. She'll be picking out a name before you have a chance – the world saw your debut today after all."

"What?" Kara looked to Barry, worried. She knew what a force Cat Grant could be.

"Yeah, the girl who stopped Hydroman and took him away peacefully. Unheard of in Central. Well, almost anyway." He indicated the TV in the wall, which had a local news channel on it. Kara saw, for the first time, what she looked like on television; outfit and all. She looked back to Barry, worry in her eyes; scared as to how she'd be perceived. Barry looked calm though as he smiled at her. "You honestly did a good job. I may have attacked first and asked questions later. But don't worry, Kara, honestly. You get used to it. And you know, I really think you need a cape."

-PowerFlash-

Cat Grant was almost all alone in her office, the working day long-since over. She stood, looking at two of the TVs behind her desk, two images paused on both – one was security footage from a few months ago during Duplicate's first incident; a girl with long blond hair was glaring below at something unseen, while the other was video footage from that day's news of the new superhero in town while talking Cole Denier down.

"They're the same girl," Cat muttered, her arms somewhat-folded as the hand with the television remote rested on her chin. "She came back to Central to do good and is friends with the Flash. This could be my biggest break. This is why I am here… EILEEN!" She turned to look through the propped-up glass panels separating her makeshift office from the rest of the floor, Iris was at her desk still typing as she was desperate to get her article done for the morning print. She looked over to Cat.

"In my office, now, Miss East," Cat demanded, using the wrong name for the journalist as usual.

Iris sighed as she moved up from her desk and strode in.

"This newcomer… this, girl in white. She took Mr. Denier back to STAR Labs, like I was saying earlier – the hub of meta-human activity. She can fly, but she's also this girl from a few months ago around the Duplicate-incident. That girl was also super-fast like the Flash and strong, according to reports at the time. I need more though. I need to know everything. I must speak to someone from STAR Labs!"

"It's seven in the evening Ms. Grant," Iris reasoned. "I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for the article on today's attack so I doubt there would me anyone at STAR now." She perfectly lied before adding more reasonably, "I'll talk to someone first thing in the morning on your behalf."

"Very well. I must be the first with this story, Eileen, it's vital to the future of this paper, to this company. You understand?" Cat stated, looking Iris up and down in thought.

"Yes, Ms. Grant."

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _What's up?" Kara asked, noticing the worried look on his face._

 _A few months ago, Barry would have kept shut about his concerns, put on a brave face and waited until all hell broke loose, but now he knew he had to tell her what was worrying him. "Someone's after you."_

" _What?" Kara stared at him blankly before adding, "Who? How do you know?"_

" _Two victims in the CCPD greatly resemble you" Barry stated simply._

 _Kara actually spluttered in laughter. "Two women look like me happen to be dead, and so I'm in danger?"_

* * *

Post-chapter Note 1: So, the people here who read my beta's (CharmedMilliE – Karry Master's) story 'Karry Universe', might have noticed someone familiar in this chapter (and admitting here makes that more obvious), but that's because, with her permission, I was able to use her original character, H2-No (or Cole Denyer) who was in the self-titled chapter 'H2-No' of her story. As you can see, I changed both his meta-human title and his last name with her permission, but the character belongs to her, so thankyou CharmedMilliE.

Post-chapter Note 2: I'd like to remind some reviewers that we cannot always write 10,000-word masterpieces a week – remember, its quality over quantity: if it doesn't seem long enough, maybe it's better to read a little slower…? No offense meant, however.


	7. Visitor from Another Planet

So I'm aware this is extremely late on a Monday again, but apparently the CW are now showing the first two episodes of Supergirl tonight (and every Monday) in preparation of the second season (I'm in the UK so I had no clue until today) so there's been a lot of increased interest in my updating this chapter tonight too – which works well with the pilot for reasons you'll see below. Also, I usually dedicate an episode to a singular reviewer, but this week, due to the nature of this story (you'll see *winks*), I want to dedicate this to every reader and reviewer of this story thus far – it's cliché to say, but honestly I wouldn't be continuing this without you all and there are many, many more stories to come that I hope you'll all be excited for, in particular a certain ex-sidekick of a certain Gotham vigilante soon… so on that note!

Episode Seven – Visitor from Another Planet.

There was a flash of light, just outside the city. A figure emerged from the bright flash of energy, but as it was daytime, and as this was a part of the city no one batted an eyelid to, it went unnoticed. The figure was glad of this, their arrival planned, their co-ordinates researched. Ever since the Kryptonian had been detected in this region of space, this far from home and completely unprotected from the guidelines of Kryptonian law, she was the perfect target, the perfect mate.

She had done her research.

-PowerFlash-

Doctor Stein had found his way back to STAR Labs now. Clarissa, his wife, lived in Central City of course, and after spending a few days back with her after being away for some time, pun intended – Jax, his Firestorm co-partner had returned to spend time with his mother too – he had taken the opportunity to visit the Labs. Since his inclusion in the Firestorm amalgamation, Clarissa had taken up tutoring jobs, so income wasn't so much of a problem, but he did have an ulterior motive to visit STAR Labs – especially with his involvement in Team Flash and the new rumours spreading about the Lab's scientific revival thanks to CatCo Picture News.

It was nearing midday on a Tuesday when he entered the dilapidated building and made his way to the Cortex – the heart of Team Flash's home – to find two unfamiliar girls and Professor Harrison Wells, the Earth-2 variant he assumed, working away. In fact, the blond of the young girls was with Doctor Wells, looking in on the treadmill Barry usually ran on to see the second girl running with extreme speeds similarly matching Mr. Allen's as the Flash.

"A lot's happened since I've been away," Stein announced himself, the blond turning sharply to look at him while Wells didn't even seem to note his arrival.

"Professor Stein?" the blond asked, smiling as she moved over to him.

"You know of me?" Stein asked as she lifted her hand to shake his. Stein took the hand uncertainly as he looked over the girl – he had never seen her before.

"Barry and Caitlin go on about you all the time. I'm Kara Wells, you're one half of Firestorm. Ray wondered if you would be coming back. I take it those time travelling people never came back for the rest of your team?"

"Urm," Stein didn't know quite how to respond to all this, glancing again to the brunette on the treadmill. He hadn't given much thought to where Ray had gone. Stein had kind of assumed he had headed back to Star but it seemed the man was here instead.

"Oh, that's Jesse, Harrison Wells' daughter and my adoptive sister. She's also a speedster like Barry – it's a long story involving Barry losing his speed and dad trying to give it back to him."

"Give it back to him?" Stein's eyes moved to Wells now, "you re-enacted the Particle Accelerator explosion? That's an extremely dangerous thing to do."

"And it was" this time Wells turned to look at Stein, neither grimacing nor smiling, "but Barry survived and is more powerful than before, my daughter is now a fellow speedster and Mr. West is showing potential. Before long Central will have three very fast protectors, and Kara here."

"Mr. West?" Stein had been away for far too long it seemed, that was becoming obvious now. "Joe is a potential speedster?"

Harry actually laughed at this, his speedster daughter having finished on the treadmill as she joined her father and foster sister in curiosity. "Not that one. West Junior, Joe's long-lost son."

"Joe has a son? Fascinating!" Stein exclaimed, his eyes moving back to Kara however as he backtracked. "And what about you, my dear? A lot of new faces to get to know."

"I'm an alien with superpowers thanks to the Earth's yellow sun." Kara stated with a small smirk, much to Stein's shock.

"An alien? Well…" he glanced between Wells and Kara before voicing, "I've faced time-travel, immortality, meta-humans and reincarnation, but aliens… well, this is new territory. Would you mind filling me in?"

Kara seemed nervous for a moment, but this this didn't hinder her or Harry as they went on to explain about Barry breaching to Earths 3 and 4, and about the original version of Kara and that past, explaining Barry's return, Kara Wells' origins and even her training at ARGUS. Harry went on to mention Jesse's abilities and what they had discovered about the speed-force through her now. The professor, who kept repeating 'fascinating' every few minutes, seemed to hang on to their every word.

-PowerFlash-

Barry had been working all morning. Well, that is to say he got all his day's work done within five minutes and spent the rest of the time lazing around, thinking about Kara, Jesse and Wally – well, mostly Kara. Try as he might, he couldn't quite take his mind off his foster brother and Harry's daughter, but suspected that was more speed-force-related than actual thoughts toward them. If Wally were a speedster like himself and Jesse, then it would make sense he was connected to Wally like he was Jesse. Kara however…

"Hey, Bar?" Joe stuck his head in the door to Barry's Lab, Barry turning lazily on his chair to look at his foster dad who raised an eyebrow, his tone suddenly changing as he noted: "If the Captain saw you like that…"

"It's fine. I've done everything, Joe, and if Captain Singh was to look in on me, I'm fast enough to make myself look busy before he had anything to complain about." There was a boyish smirk on his face at this, which Joe couldn't help but chuckle to.

"Well, as long as Singh doesn't spot you flashing about like the hero you are… anyway, I'm not here to question your job, but to ask you to do an extra job."

"Oh yeah?" Barry jumped from his chair as he moved over to Joe, now intrigued.

"Two girls found dead of confirmed heart attacks in downtown within a block of one another. Both bodies are now down in the morgue, but I thought you'd be interested in them – unusual circumstances and everything," Joe reasoned.

"Since the Particle Accelerator explosion this place has become the heart of unusual circumstances," Barry stated as he motioned for Joe to lead the way to the elevator, not that he didn't know where to go. "I take it Julian is already there?" He asked as Joe pressed the button for the basement level on the lift.

"He's got nothing else going on since we don't have any dead metas to examine, so he took the case, even if it seems below his pay grade, but being a forensic anthropologist he knows his way around a dead body or two," Joe stated as the doors finally opened and they stepped into the elevator.

"How's he getting on with his study on deceased metas, do you know?" Barry asked, generally interested. Ever since Singh had appointed him on Cisco's request – Cisco of course being the CCPD's official meta-human liaison, still – Julian Dorn had been hands-on in looking over all the corpses of those in both STAR and the CCPD's morgue. He and Cisco were the first in the field in studying meta-human biology and so it was exciting work for both of them. Barry had met Julian on a few occasions too, like right now to examine potential meta-human attacks, and of course those times when he'd been at STAR with Cisco at the same time as Barry.

"Not a clue. You're best asking him yourself," Joe stated simply as the elevator grinded to a halt and the doors pinged open. They moved into the short corridor that led to a set of double-doors. Beyond those doors a constantly cool room was situated – it was large with several gurneys situated in a row. At the back of the room was a wall of storage coolers – looking like simple lockers although much deeper than the average locker – and windows, situated right up against the ceiling, cast a dull light in the room that the strobe lights had to constantly fight with during the day. There was an office situated next to the corridor – accessible by both corridor and morgue – which was currently empty as it's only occupant – a tall, thin, blond man in a lab coat – was currently examining a female form upon one of the gurneys.

Julian Dorn looked up at Barry and Joe's arrival and smiled a rather attractive grin at the pair. "Detective West, Mr. Allen, great to see you" he was distinctly British as he moved over to the pair, removing his disposable gloves to shake their hands, "I was hoping you'd pop by before lunch."

"Yeah, what's the story?" Barry took over, moving past Julian after shaking his hand to look at the two bodies with curiosity.

"Two females, mid-twenties, both found within minutes of one another and suffering multiple heart attacks," Dorn stated as Barry grabbed a pair of disposable gloves. Julian put on some fresh gloves too while Barry checked over the first woman.

"Any indication of heart problems in their families?" Barry asked.

"Already checked and no for either – completely unsuspected. While it's possible one could have suffered a sudden attack, the possibility of another woman having the same fate so close to the other is something we can't overlook," Dorn joined Barry as he added. "The only indication of similarities within the two is a faint genetic trace left on their lips. The same pattern but not human."

"Not human?" Barry looked to Julian, curious. "Meta, then?"

"Possibly…" There was doubt in Dorn's voice as Barry looked closer to the lips of the current woman. Neither forensic scientist said anything else for a few minutes as Barry moved off to look at the other woman before he glanced back to Joe. His foster father had an odd look on his face. "There's something odd with the DNA" Julian continued. "Most meta humans just have an extra molecular strain – one mutated DNA factor. This seems completely different, though."

"What is it, Joe?" Barry asked as Julian glanced between the living pair now, unable to avoid the look on his father's face now.

"Don't you see it?" Joe stated simply, looking at the girls' bodies himself.

"See what?" Barry asked, a little confused now, obviously not on the same thought pattern as his father.

"Both women in their mid-twenties, both of similar height, white and both are blue-eyed and blond," he covered the points as he knew them.

"They are similar, yes." Dorn thought aloud.

"You think they were attacked for their looks?" Barry asked.

"Yes and no. I think they were attacked because they look like someone similar. The same sort of thing happened in Star City last year, but that was… different." He didn't want to go into too much detail on the time when Sara had been resurrected without her soul and had sought her killer in people who looked like Thea Queen – then she had actually left actual marks on her victims, not just a possible kiss to the lips. He'd learned all this posthumously from Quentin Lance, of course.

Barry frowned as he took a step back, looking between both women before he looked back at Joe, who now had a concerned expression on his face as Julian glanced to Barry now. Then he saw it, he saw what they both looked like – who they both looked like. Kara! "Oh no…" he muttered to himself. "I need to go on lunch. Desperately." He whipped off his gloves a little too fast before rushing as quickly as humanly possible to the exit – using the stairs instead of the elevator this time.

Julian's eyebrows raised as he glanced to Joe now. "Am I missing something?" Julian wasn't stupid and he saw that Joe and Barry had somehow had a conversation he did not understand right in front of him. That was a bit annoying.

"We'll let you know," Joe stated. "Thanks for letting Barry in on this though." He patted Julian on the shoulder and was about to turn to leave when Julian suddenly spoke up.

"Err, Detective West?"

"Yeah?" Joe said stopping and turning back around to look at the young man.

"Iris," Julian muttered, not meeting Joe's eyes now as the man looked to him.

"Yes? What about her?" Joe almost demanded.

"Is she… I mean, well I don't want to impose but I was wondering…" he was stuttering through his request before he blurted out: "Is she single?"

"If you mean to ask if my only daughter has a boyfriend, then no, she is not seeing anyone." Joe cautioned, noticing Julian grin in spite of himself. "And I didn't know you knew her."

"I've seen her about here and at STAR Labs…" Julian supplied.

"Well, I'm meeting her for lunch, if she has the time I can bring her by the station if you make yourself available in half an hour?" Joe didn't like setting up dates or anything of the likes for his daughter, but she was old enough to make her own decisions and he didn't like to see a clever man like Julian not get the chance to at least make an impression, and if he liked her, well, all the better. Julian was a nice kid and Iris needed to move on from Eddie, and possibly Barry too.

"Cool," Julian responded, a little nervously now.

Joe smirked as he was allowed to leave this time, Julian moving off to his lonely office as Joe headed to the elevator.

-PowerFlash-

Barry arrived at STAR Labs to find Doctor Stein had joined their ranks, as Harry had previously predicted, who was in conversation with the scientist while Harry's daughters sat back and watched. He had no idea where STAR regulars, Cisco and Caitlin were, or even Ray now he thought about it, but he moved swiftly over to Kara without even a 'hello'.

"What's up?" Kara asked, noticing the worried look on his face.

A few months ago, Barry would have kept shut about his concerns, put on a brave face and waited until all hell broke loose, but now he knew he had to tell her what was worrying him. "Someone's after you."

"What?" Kara stared at him blankly before adding, "Who? How do you know?"

"Two victims in the CCPD greatly resemble you" Barry stated simply.

Kara actually spluttered in laughter. "Two women look like me happen to be dead, and so I'm in danger?" She couldn't help but shake her head at this.

"You don't get it," Barry kept his cool in spite of Kara's odd reaction. "These girls died of heart attacks, close to one another with no history of such health issues in either of their families. They were… kissed to death." It was the only thing that seemed to make sense – foreign, hell even alien, genetics on their lips that matched. There were no other signs of possible cause.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you right? You have two victims back at the CCPD who were kissed to death?" Stein had joined the pair, looking between Barry and Kara as he added his catchphrase "Fascinating!" with enthusiastic wonderment.

"I'm sure it's a coincidence, albeit kind of weird," Kara dismissed, looking back to Harry and not wanting her family involved in such a silly cause of worry. "Plus, I'm not likely to link lips with strangers."

"Waiting for that special person, I suppose?" Stein added thoughtfully. Kara glanced toward the doctor but her face seemed to have gone slightly redder as Stein began to mention his own wife and the special love they shared – his go-to in situations like this is seemed. Jesse smirked, as Stein didn't seem to notice how embarrassed Kara was getting.

"But whatever this person did, it forced a heart attack in those two women," Barry tried, Kara actually placing her hands on her hips now as she shook her head in a little annoyance.

"Look Barry. I know you're concerned, but I'm so much more than either one of those women, I'm sure. Look, why don't we go to lunch? You can show me that pizza place you keep going on about while keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't kiss anyone I shouldn't."

Now it was Barry's turn to blush as he silently nodded in agreement, Kara taking his hand with a glance to her sister before they both left.

It was barely half an hour later, both superheroes working on their fifth pizza each when Barry's phone went off. Glancing an apologetic look to Kara, he noticed Joe was his caller and answered without a word. "Bar, there's a third victim. Just got the call." Joe went on to tell Barry the location, as well as the fact that Julian wanted his expert eyes again, so Barry stood up. Kara frowned curiously to the speedster as he glanced worriedly to her.

"Gotta cut this date short," he stated as he put the phone away, "another body. Back to STAR? Cisco's been requested to join in and use his own 'expert opinion' in finding the killer."

"You mean Vibe them out?" Kara stood as Barry quickly paid the bill and returned. "And you called this a date, Mr. Allen. I didn't realise I'd be so lucky!"

Barry didn't really have time to think that one through as he and Kara moved off back to the Labs, a little quicker than met the eye, and met up with Cisco, Julian and Joe at the entrance – they had to slow down pretty quick before Julian was let in on the secret.

"That was fast!" Julian nevertheless greeted the pair, smiling at Kara in spite of the situation.

"Kara Wells," Kara introduced herself, waving off the speedy remark as she nodded her head to the other blond before Cisco moved forward.

"I think this may be a CSI thing only," he stated a little bit worriedly, indicating that he'd rather not have Kara around for this. "Your dad's testing Jesse again in the Cortex and Jesse seems to want some sisterly support there. You know how Harry can be."

She knew this was a way to get rid of her, but Kara nodded in agreement, quickly returning to the Cortex as Cisco led the men to the cold storage area. Barry wasn't quite sure how Cisco was going to do his 'Vibe-thing' without Julian figuring something out, but the answer was waiting for him in the form of Martin Stein.

Stein was good, Barry had to give him that, as he instructively moved Julian off, asking the anthropologist about his studies to the meta-human genome all the while moving purposefully as far away from STAR's morgue as possible.

"How does he not know you're a meta?" Barry turned his attention to Cisco now; as the pair worked on meta-human DNA in their spare time, living meta tissue from Vibe could have been extremely useful in their research.

"I barely know the guy; I don't want to go blurting about how I'm a meta-human in front of him. He's mentioned doing autopsies on the living in his past, and he's not even thirty yet! Besides, you work in the same building as him – if anything, the Flash would be a hell of a lot more interesting than the dude who can see places and open portals to other worlds."

"Opening portals to other words is a lot cooler than zipping about the place in a tight red suit," Joe pointed out as Barry stared at him in disbelief.

"Can you just do your thing?" Barry quickly interjected, turning his attention to the girl on the table and forcing himself to breathe as he noticed how extremely similar to Kara she did look – this one even had shoulder-cropped hair like Kara. Could it really be something similar to a Lazarus Pit situation Joe had filled him in on during the quick phone call?

Cisco sighed as he pulled his newly improved Vibe goggles from his deep jacket pocket – he'd modified it even more since his time with Winn on Earth-3 and so used it as much as possible in his every day Vibe life. He'd even taken apart the old Reverb glasses permanently to add bits of it to this new one. "So what, the dude kisses her and she dies? I touch the lips right?"

"Have you never kissed a girl before?" Barry groaned indignantly as Cisco glowered at him, shoved the goggled on a little too violently, and placed a finger to the woman's lips.

"Damn she's cold already…" he muttered as he nevertheless concentrated, Barry and Joe now looking to him in intrigue – it was much harder to make out him Vibing with the goggles on and they couldn't quite see his eyes through the small Plexiglas window, but the fact he'd silenced himself and seemed to be rigid-still was indication he had found what he was looking for.

Cisco suddenly ripped off the glasses, faster than even Barry could – and that was saying something – as he breathed heavily, glancing to Joe and Barry. "It's a woman! She's… it's hard to describe. She's looking for someone in particular, for Kara. Something about Kryptonians…"

"Did you see where she was?" Barry asked, his worst fears coming alive already.

"She's homing in on her. She's close… but Barry, she's also powerful. I mean I could sense the power radiating off her…"

"Well, let's hope she's never faced off with a Flash!" He was gone, leaving Cisco and Joe in a somewhat awkward silence.

Barry's costume was off its mannequin before Kara knew what had happened, but she was just as quick as she stopped the Flash before he had the chance to even leave the Cortex, let alone the facility. "You're not going without me! I heard what Cisco saw, who he saw. We face her together or not at all, okay?"

Barry didn't want to argue – well he did, but he knew it was a fight he wouldn't win – so reluctantly he nodded; Kara vanished to Cisco's hidden room and returned in a moment in her off-white and blue costume. As per her instruction to Cisco since her face off with Hydroman, the costume now had its own cape, albeit completely different to her originator's: This was slightly darker blue than her boots, was cut shorter than most to stop just below the waist and was made of a bullet-proof, powerful synthetic alloy that Cisco found very hard to even cut to shape, let alone design to work with the outfit. It looked good though.

She was still lacking in a symbol, but ever since Winn had given Cisco that Super-necklace on Earth-3, Barry was just waiting for the House of El to make its appearance on the outfit soon.

"Let's kick some female ass!" Kara stated, placing the mask on her face, causing Barry to grin as Jesse moved to the computer banks, her father at her side – she wasn't yet ready or confident to go on missions, even though Cisco had practically finished her speedster outfit, but at least she'd be talking them through via their ear pieces.

Kara took to the air as Barry took to the streets, each keeping an eye out for anything unusual, any women acting shifty. That was until something flew up and joined Kara.

A figure, slightly taller than the Woman of Steel, wrapped entirely in white shawls with her pale face only just visible through the fabric Kara couldn't see through floated above the city, Kara coming to a stop in front of her, her own heart racing.

"Kryptonian!" The white cladded woman bellowed, her voice reaching the streets below as many people's attention were drawn, camera-phones immediately shooting the odd scene as the Flash, unable to maintain height like one who could fly, did his best to keep in the vicinity, jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop to keep in with the action, but the women were slightly too high for him to reach anyway.

"What do you know of my race? What are you?" Kara asked back, forcing herself to remain calm as she took note of the zipping red blur that was Barry below them.

"Why are you so far from home?" the woman countered.

"This is my home," Kara stated, curious if this was confirmation that Krypton lived in this universe, or if this woman was playing games with her. "Why do you seek me? Why leave a trail of dead in your wake?"

"I search for a mate. I know of your recent exploits on this planet, your genetic structure. Those Earthlings were weak compared to the noble and long-lived race of Kryptonians," Kara could just make out blood-red hair beneath the white shawls.

"You look for a girlfriend in me?" This was what Kara translated from the woman's speech. "Who are you?"

"I am Maxima, Protector of Almerac, dishonoured from Crucible Academy. I have come for you, fellow planet protector."

"I'm no planet protector!" Kara raised her hands in shock. "Do you want to help protect this planet, or do you need me to help protect this Almanac place?"

"Almerac." Maxima confirmed. "But no. I simply come to fulfil my life's purpose. To find an equal in which to mate." At this she removed the shawl that covered her head, revealing a powerful face, deep botte-green eyes and larger-than-life flowing blood-red hair. She was attractive in her own way. Kara also noticed the thing glinting on the other woman's wrist.

"I think she wants to have sex with you, Kara." Jesse's voice in Kara's ear almost made her jump, forgetting her sister was at the computers back at STAR, but she tried to keep her cool as she glanced to Maxima.

"Sorry, you're not my type," Kara replied a little coolly, not sounding apologetic for a problem that wasn't her own – she'd literally just had her first date with Barry; she didn't need this woman, this alien, come and mess things up.

"Unacceptable!" Maxima lunged. Kara only just managed to fly backward as she let out a blast of her laser vision on the woman, which didn't even seem to singe her, let alone hurt her.

"My mentor Alex is quite good when it comes to –" Kara tried as Maxima began to circle her, Kara noticed Barry had stopped circling too, and realised he stood on a roof closest to them now, ready to strike when they got closer; Kara began to drift toward him, forcing Maxima to move with her. "She's quite badass when it comes to fighting, Alex that is, I'm sure she would make a worthy mate for you."

"I do not need some weak Earthling – they break too easily. I require someone strong, someone who could aide in the protection of my home and the widening of my own desires." Maxima didn't seem fazed by what she was saying, but Kara found herself blushing once more for the alien woman.

"A little too much information for me, Maxi," she tried, glancing quickly to where Barry was and just in time as he jumped. Kara had to fly backward quickly as Barry found himself grappling with the alien woman some hundred or so feet above a nasty fall to death, but Kara kept close as she watched the Flash prove he was almost more than a match for Maxima – she even helped as she put forth a few punches before Barry lost his grip on the red-head and began to fall.

Kara swept down, grabbing Barry and moved back up to continue the fight with Maxima, only to find she'd vanished. With Barry in her arms she looked around, noting the cameras pointed up at them and no super-powered red-head in sight. "Lost her," she sighed. "That was… weird."

"Well, I hope she doesn't mind us borrowing this?" Kara looked to Barry holding what looked like a charm bracelet in his hand – the thing that had glinted in the light before theirs and Maxima's fight.

"Source of her powers, maybe?" Kara suggested hopefully.

"I think we should get this back to STAR," Barry countered, Kara agreeing as she didn't even bother to put Barry down on the ground, flying straight to the Labs.

-PowerFlash-

"Fascinating!"

"Will you stop saying that?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Allen, but this really is quite fascinating! It's technology from a whole other world!"

Stein had been waiting for them in the Cortex – Cisco was entertaining Julian in STAR's morgue and Joe had gone back to the department. Barry hadn't seen Caitlin or Ray all day. But now Stein was examining the bracelet Barry had claimed off of Maxima with great interest and couldn't help smiling as Harry looked over his shoulder. Kara stood by Jesse at the computers while Barry paced about nervously.

"You see these charms?" Stein indicated the few objects hanging from the chain. "They fit into part of a greater design when placed as such." He moved what looked like a ringed planet next to a crescent moon; instantly the two fused together, the bracelet glowing momentarily. "There's so much that can be learned from such a thing. If only you could have brought this Maxima woman in for questioning, she could provide the information to get this to work in our favour."

"Something tells me our meta-human holding cells wouldn't be enough," Harry pointed out right behind Stein. "You know we should really use Kara in a cell to figure out how to hold aliens." Kara gave her adoptive father a curious look at this. "No offense, but if more are going to show up we have to figure out how to hold them."

"Maybe after we stop Maxima" Jesse voiced, "who, if she were here anyway, would then be jumping Kara at every opportunity," Jesse found the situation hilarious despite the dangers Maxima presented.

"I can't believe this universe's Maxima showed up," Barry finally stated, remembering when he was on Earth-3, happily believing that there were no aliens on his Earth and so safe from that kind of threat. He had even thought about not wanting to face off against Maxima the other week, making a mental note there and then to be careful of what he thought in future. "Oh, she's held in the DEO of Earth-3" Barry added to Jesse and Harry's curious looks, Kara silently nodding with her own memories of Earth-3 thanks to the memory transplant that world's Kara had given her.

"So what do we do with her? She obviously won't leave without me by her side and I'm not looking to relocate any time soon," Kara finally stated, a little despondent. She wanted this woman gone; even going so far into half-way thinking of asking Cisco to open a portal to another Earth and throw her in, but that seemed too idiotic; Maxima would have others in this universe who would miss her, even if she was threatening this planet and Kara herself.

"And no need for a girlfriend when you already have a boy–" Jesse chimed in, but shut herself up at the glare Kara gave her. Barry was pretending not to hear this part of the conversation as he distracted himself watching Stein fiddle with the alien bracelet.

"Where did she go, though?" Kara directed this at Harry, who had taken over Caitlin's job of tracking foes while Caitlin was away.

"I lost track of her," Harry admitted, a little deflated as Kara sighed, Jesse however spoke up again.

"You don't need to look far." She had been spinning lazily on her chair but was now facing one of the television monitors; on it looked like a familiar scene to Barry – Central City Park, a handful of civilians (he noted 90% of them were female), and a white robed figured flying around them, keeping them in check. A super-villain hostage situation both Zoom and Livewire had attempted before.

"It's a trap," Harry immediately stated, moving toward the screen and grabbing Kara's shoulder to stop her from moving off.

"We get that, Admiral Ackbar," Jesse groaned, throwing in a Star Wars reference to her father's agitation. Barry had pulled his mask on already though and Kara's hadn't even left her face.

"Why is It always a park?" Barry mumbled, flashbacks to the other times this had happened flying through his mind.

"I gotta do this dad," Kara moaned, "even if I have no idea how to stop her."

"Maybe we could knock her unconscious?" Barry suggested, lighting flashing in his eyes, determined to stop her this time.

"Worth a shot," Kara shrugged, removing herself from Harry's grasp as the pair sped from the Lab; Harry running back to the computer desk to keep monitor on the pair while Jesse started monitoring their vitals and checking the cameras nearby to keep an eye on the powerful pair.

Barry and Kara arrived at the park in seconds: Kara flying down to the ground, and Barry speeding to a stop – already on the ground. The people being held hostage were pleased to see the two heroes, but Maxima had kept them in their place – she only stopping circling her pray when both the Flash and Supes came to a stop before her.

"Kryptonian, Speedster," she addressed the pair. "I need back my transponder."

"Transponder?" Barry asked. "That bracelet? What about my Kryptonian friend here?"

"I would like both." There was a wry smile on her face now as she looked over Kara.

"Why? Why me?" Kara persisted, noting helicopters coming near now and a few police cars pulling up – hopefully they could save these people before Maxima did too much damage.

"The Crucible Academy teaches only the best to protect their home worlds. We are taught to protect them with an honourable mate –" Maxima began.

"But you said you were dishonoured from that place" Kara quickly countered.

"I value their teachings nonetheless, and I still seek that mate; a champion in their own right. I have chosen you, Kryptonain to help protect Almerac, to be my mate. To live and die in the honour of the Academy!"

"I am a protector of this world though," Kara tried to reason, trying to make this Maxima see sense. She didn't seem that bad, but this obsession in wanting a mate to help protect her world seemed close-minded. "I help protect it with the Flash and others. We like it here and we have a good thing going…"

"Why do you choose to be so far from your home world though? Almerac is in a neighbouring yellow star system to Krypton; it would take no time to travel between the two; why do you choose to stay so far away from home?" There was passion in her eyes now, a plea for Kara to answer.

Kara didn't know how to answer though. She stared, open-mouthed at Maxima as she finally formed the words: "Krypton lives?" These words almost not getting through Kara's own head, shocking her.

"But of course. It never went," Maxima seemed confused at this, moving closer to Kara. Barry didn't know how to act, what to do, but was spared the wonderment when Stein spoke in his ear.

"Barry, I think I know how to stop Maxima without cause of a fight. Her bracelet; she mentioned it was a transponder – it seems to also be a teleporter. I have no idea how it can work, but we've copied as much as the technology as possible for future research and I hope that by putting it back on her it would force some sort of reboot, transporting her back to her home world or this Academy place she mentions. It's worth a shot." Barry nodded to himself, knowing Kara had heard this as he back-tracked back to STAR Labs.

But this was all the distraction Maxima needed as she leapt at Kara, the Kryptonian not having the reaction time she should have as the powerful other alien grabbed her shoulders and forced her head on to Kara's, their lips locking in a moment of shock for the Kryptonian, and relief for Maxima.

But Maxima pulled out after only a second, her green eyes meeting Kara's blue's as she looked in shock and despair. "There was no connection," she muttered, moving backward. She had been so sure Kara was the one but it seems she was wrong. "It's meant to be primal, to be perfect… but –" there was a burst of light and a clinking noise and the Flash stood beside the redhead, Maxima's bracelet back on her wrist. She looked momentarily at the thing, and then back to Kara and, with her eyes suddenly watering, she vanished in a beam of energy – transported far away from Earth.

"It worked!" Barry punched the air before looking back to Kara, who stood stocked still. "You kissed her?"

"She kissed me!" Kara protested a little weakly. "But there was no connection, she said. I didn't… Flash, that was my first kiss!" She hissed the last few words, unsure what she thought of this. She wanted Barry to be her first kiss in all honestly, not some alien woman, but maybe it was for the best if there was 'no connection' so Maxima wouldn't return to try again.

Barry couldn't help but smirk at this, his attention now turned to the people still congregating on the grass – apparently unaware they had been set free – and the police lingering on the street. "Come on. Time to help clear up" he avoided her gaze now as he moved off.

-PowerFlash-

"You kissed a girl!" Jesse almost sang to Kara, the Kryptonian and the Flash back at STAR Labs – another job well done – as Jesse couldn't help but repeat herself, obviously thrilled to have little sister to tease. Kara though didn't seem to hear her sister – she hadn't even taken off her costume, actually, just sitting on a chair, staring into space.

"Kara, what's wrong?' Barry asked. The group had been trying to get Kara's attention for several minutes, including Jesse's sing-song, but Barry's voice finally made Kara look to him.

"Krypton lives," Kara said, her only thoughts having been to her home world since Maxima's reveal. "It never blew up."

Barry sighed, putting a hand on Kara's knees as he bent down to look her in the eyes. "You had to know that was a possibility. Especially since there is no Superman or Supergirl on this world."

"It didn't really cross my mind," Kara said, lost in memories that were not here own. "The red sun, the yellow grass, the beautiful cities. They are all still there." Kara had a sudden longing for a home she had never stepped foot on, knowing that this longing came from the original Kara. From Supergirl. It had been passed over to her along with the memories. "My mom, dad, Uncle Jor, Aunt Astra, little Kal – they all live on Krypton. Myself, though…" The thought finally came to her. "The real Kara of this world is there, probably in her fifties now with a husband and children of her own, most likely. Maybe a judge like mom or a scientist like dad… or went into the army like Aunt Astra. Maybe even politics, who knows. With the connections of the house of El she could even be supreme ruler of Krypton."

"I'll put the bets on the army," Barry said with a small smile as Jesse let the two talk, moving back to Stein to continue an interrogation she had started on his arrival hours ago. "If she's anything like you, or her counterparts I met, she wants to help people" Barry concluded.

"My home is out there and I will never see. Even if I do though, I don't have a place there," Kara muttered.

"You have a place here with us. This is your home – you even said so," Barry reminder her, and Kara gave him a small smile, moving forward to suddenly hug the man, her grip still a little too tight as she felt a pain he didn't voice.

"Sorry," Kara mumbled. "Barry…?" he was about to turn around but looked back at Kara. "If Maxima found out about me, there's a chance Krypton could too, isn't there?" Barry nodded his head knowing it to be true, wondering where Kara was going with this. "You think they would come here to investigate? What do you think they would think of me? A clone of Kara Zor-El taken from DNA from another world's Kara Zor-El. What do they even think of clones?"

"I honestly don't know Kara," Barry said truthfully, a little defeated at this. "But we'll worry about that when the time comes. If the time comes."

-PowerFlash-

"Power Girl?" Iris had arrived in the office after lunch. She had watched Barry and Kara's battle with the alien woman first hand and soon found the hash tag 'PowerGirl' trending on Twitter, with – surprise, surprise – Cat Grant responsible for the first tweet regarding the girl in white. Iris would have been okay with the name had it not been for the 'girl' part of it. Kara was anything but a girl, in spite of being created just over a month or so ago as a clone. Now she found herself charging into Cat's makeshift office, her boss staring at several pieces of footage she'd collected of 'Power Girl' since her origins in Central with her longer hair.

"We can't name her that!" Iris now insisted the back of Cat's head.

"' _We'_ didn't, Miss East," Cat responded, turning in her chair now to look at Iris, her eyebrows raised and a curious expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," Iris found herself responding, but forced herself to go on. "A female superhero though, shouldn't she, at least, be called 'Power Woman'?"

"I'm sorry, Eileen, but I really can't hear you over the glare of your cheap bling" Cat sighed; glancing to the chain around Iris' neck and the large loop earrings she had selected that morning.

Iris ignored this though, wanting to put her point across as she risked leaning against Cat's desk. "If we call her 'Power Girl', something less than what she is, doesn't that make us guilty of being anti-feminist?" Cat blinked at this, surprised at Iris' words as she leaned back in her chair.

"I stuck a label on the side of this girl, before anyone else had settled on anything – I branded her, Eileen, if I want her to be Power Girl, then she will be Power Girl. Now she will be forever linked to Cat Grant and CatCo – to this very paper! Do you not understand the power of media? My power, simply sat behind this desk? What do you have against such a title anyway? I've put the word 'girl' right after 'power' – she's a powerful girl, you see?"

"It's not…" Iris tried as Cat stood up, Iris forcing herself to move back as she stuttered, "I meant…"

"I'm a girl," Cat said simply, pointing to herself, "and I'm your boss, and powerful, and rich, and smart, and – if I do say so myself – super hot. So if you perceive Power Girl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem… you?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Grant." Iris found herself saying, suddenly feeling dejected. The fire she had felt ever since Cat had branded Kara with such a title seemed to have doused upon. Ms. Grant had that effect.

"You better be, Eileen, because from this day forward, the Flash's female co-superhero is Power Girl, and there's nothing anyone can do about that." There was a wicked grin on Cat's face now as she sat back down. "In the meanwhile, don't you have an article about this Maxima to write about? Power Girl and Maxima shared a rather intimate kiss before the latter vanished – that's a story all of its own after all."

"I'll… Right, yeah. I'll get right on it," Iris mumbled, turning on her heel now and moving back to her desk, her mind suddenly very empty as the buzzing of Cat's words filled her ears.

"Oh and Eileen," Iris looked over to Cat, "Don't ever try to one-up me again or you'll find yourself demoted quicker than you can say 'Power _Woman_ ', okay?" she half-teased, half-threatened.

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _How do you know this 'Scott Wynn' person?" Jesse asked Wally as they entered the bar. It was an okay place, not the sort of place she was used to on Earth-2, but reminded her of the bar Barry and Iris had taken her too that time when she'd discovered the bad things her dad had done in her name, and when that friend of Caitlin's, Trajectory, had tried to harness the speed force for herself._

" _I heard him sing one night, and thought I'd introduce myself. I don't have that many friends around here and Winn's a cool guy," Wally said as they moved over to the bar._

" _I thought he was Scott? Unless you call him by his last name," Jesse speculated, knowing some people did go by their last name._

" _No, Scott Wynn's his stage name – his real name is Winn Schott Jnr."_

* * *

Post-chapter Note 1: While I'm okay in updating on Mondays, I would like to stress to everyone that I cannot always update on this day; I have this thing called a life (I advise all of you to keep away from them – nasty distracting things, make you late for lunch) so between that, writing new chapters/episodes, events popping up (such at the London Film and Comic Con this weekend just gone), and trying to update every Monday, I can't always oblige. I do, however, love the interest that's now building to this story and hope I can live up to expectations!

Post-chapter Note 2: I also thank you all for your reviews, and I apologise for not getting back to you all; I will make an effort to do so more in future.


	8. The Third Speedster

As usual I want to do a dedication/shout-out to one of you, and technically this should have gone to this person last week, but I used the lazy-man's escape to thank you all – it was the official naming of Power Girl then after all, so anyway, to reviewer ActualTurtle3 (or 'Turtle' as myself and CharmedMillie like to call you), this one is for you! Everyone, please read, love and review. Reviews really do keep me going and keep me inspired.

Oh, and please, please, PLEASE YouTube 'Jeremy Jordon – It's All Coming Back to Me Now' because this chapter (and Winn) will suddenly mean a lot more after watching that. Trust me…

Episode Eight – The Third Speedster.

He was running; always running. Or was he chasing? A black figure was ahead of him but he had to pass it, to outrun it, to get the one beyond, to save his friend, his brother. And yet he remained in third, forever trying to outmaneuver a creature that wouldn't give up, that he just couldn't get passed. And the Flash would forever be running...

Wally woke with a start; sweat dripping from his forehead, his breath restricted – like he'd actually been running than just dreaming so. He sat up and blearily looked at his bedside clock, moaning silently at the 4am glowing indignantly at him. He felt he should be used to it by now, his nights had been drastically similar the past two weeks, as though he couldn't get this dream out of his mind.

Leaning forward to cup his head in his hands he recalled the dream vividly: He had been running at impossible speeds, going goodness knows where, desperately trying to overtake... something so he could reach Barry. Yes, that was definitely Barry in his Flash costume in the lead. But why? Why the same dream, night after night with no avail?

He flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, contemplating life – more specifically, his life. So much had changed in a year. He had found his biological sister and father, lost his mother, relocated to Central City, almost died – more than once – and had been kidnapped. He had reformed from his drag-racing obsession though, his need for speed, and met a girl he kind of liked. At least he had that.

He thought now to that girl, to Jesse and how she made him smile, how her quirky and sometimes erratic ways brought out the best in her, forcing him to up his game... But he also thought to that time their fathers had locked them in that secret room in STAR Labs and, when they'd escaped, being hit by that strange wave of energy; Jesse had been more affected by it than he, but on the long-term he had to wonder… Iris had kept him informed on goings on at STAR Labs too, how Jesse was now a speedster like Barry due to that instance. Shouldn't Wally, himself, be the same? They had both been hit equally by that stuff. Then again he hadn't been in a coma. Maybe that was the difference. Maybe he was just not meant for the speed?

Sleep claimed him again as he thought, and while he dreamed once more of the chase, he wouldn't remember it come light; his brain was too clogged with random thoughts to contemplate odd reoccurring dreams.

It was 8am when Wally woke again. It was a Saturday morning and, while he could warrant from a sleep in, knew that wouldn't be the case. So, after washing and dressing he found himself downstairs expecting to be alone but honestly not thinking the house to still be full – his father and sister sat at the dining room table, toying with bowls of cereal, while Barry and that Kara girl occupied themselves watching morning cartoons. Kara seemed most entertained by the talking dog and his gang of misfit teens, it seemed. Almost like a child would be, really.

"Morning Wally," Joe addressed his son as Wally poured himself a bowl of cereal and took a seat at the table.

"Mornin'," Wally yawned back.

"Get much sleep?" Joe tried a conversation, Wally just giving him a 'so-so' hand gesture as Iris pushed her bowl in front of herself and leaned back.

"Did I hear you up before the sun?" She now asked Wally.

"Bad dreams," Wally replied dismissively as he tucked into the breakfast cereal, glad of an excuse not to talk. He did notice his dad and Iris glancing to one another in concern, but neither seemed to say anything as Iris sighed.

"Oh well, I've got to head out to work," she picked up her bowl as both Wally and Joe glanced to her in concern now.

"But it's Saturday," Wally pointed out, a little idiotically.

"And the media doesn't take weekends off – or at least that's what Ms. Grant told me last night. Don't worry, I'll only be there for the morning, then I'm meeting Julian for that lunch we had to cut sort due to Maxima…"

"You're having lunch with Julian Dorn?" Barry now asked, glancing over to her from the couch as Kara turned down the volume of the television.

"Yeah. He asked me out the other day, I said yes." A look passed between the pair as both knew instantly what this meant: Barry had pushed off Iris' advances a few weeks ago, and now he seemed to be in some kind of relationship with Kara; Iris didn't want to be hung up on anyone, and Julian was an attractive and smart man. As the two looked at each other they both gave a small nod, knowing that any relationship they had once both thought they'd was never happening. Both okay with it too, knowing they were not meant to be. There were other people for them. Kara and Julian, maybe.

"Have fun," Barry finally said with a genuine smile before turning his attention back to the cartoon and Kara.

Now it was Wally and Joe's turn to share a look, both knowing the bumpy history of Iris and Barry – Wally had been caught up on Barry's feelings for Iris some time ago – and so wondering what this meant for the potential couple, but Iris interrupted the glance with a mutter of "It's fine" to her father as she squeezed his shoulder, claimed her handbag and walked from the door.

As the door closed, Joe moved over to the couch and sat on the arm, looking at Barry in that way only Joe could.

"What, Joe?" Barry asked, glancing to his adoptive father.

"You and Iris… will they, wont they…" Joe stated loftily. "Look, I don't want to get into the affairs of my kids, but I don't like to be kept out of the loop, either."

"Nothing's happening between me and Iris," Barry stated truthfully. "I'm happy for her, honestly. Julian's nice. If she ends up with him that's great and if not, I'll support her for the next person."

"Okay then," Joe didn't want to pry too far into it, not wanting to get too 'protective father' over any of his kids, so stood again. "I'm heading out. Got an appointment soon so free reign of the house for you lot. Don't get it in too much of a state…"

"It's okay, Kara and I will be heading to STAR shortly anyway; Cisco's got something important he wants to show us so we're just waiting for his call," Barry informed him.

"Well, whatever. Have fun you two…" Joe moved off to the stairs, to get himself prepared for whatever it was he was going to head out for.

Meanwhile, Wally's ears had perked up and his breakfast had been eaten. He glanced to the pair still watching cartoons and had to ask: "Hey Barry. Mind if tag along? I haven't seen Caitlin and Cisco in a while and they're pretty cool people so…" he left the sentence hanging for a moment as Barry simply gave him a thumbs up from the couch, Wally grinning to himself as he muttered a simple "cool" and tried not to think of Jessica Wells.

-PowerFlash-

They had received Cisco's call only a few minutes after Joe had finally walked out the door and, with Wally in tow, had still nevertheless made it STAR in their usual record timing. Waiting for them were Jesse, Caitlin, Ray and Cisco, along with two female mannequins with two super-suits. Barry and Kara recognized Kara's one instantly, and Kara alone recognized Jesse's too – having been given a glance of it a few weeks back before gaining her Earth-3 memories. She had also seen it intermittently when grabbing her super-suit from time to time.

"I officially dub her: Quick." Cisco was saying with a small smirk as he introduced the three newcomers to Jesse's suit first. It took inspiration from both the Flash and the Reverse-Flash's outfit, having a yellow upper bodice slowly changing to Red-Flash legs. It left little room for the imagination, but as a speedster, there needed to be very little between their body and the friction of the air so as not to drag its user against wind resistance. The boots were red to match the legs and the eye-mask was yellow to match the bodice; Cisco seemed to have also added yellow fingerless gloves and Barry's Flash symbol just right, off-center of the chest.

"You ready to be a speedster then?" Barry asked Jesse who was looking anywhere but at her super-suit – although her focus did keep falling on Wally more than anyone or anything else.

"Not really," Cisco interjected. "But I thought enough was enough and I'd let you all have first looks at her outfit."

"And the reasoning behind the name?" This time Jesse was the one to speak, glancing to Cisco now.

"I'm starting to like it. While it's not 'Jesse Quick' as your dad dubs you, it does relate to what you are, to how you are perceived: Quick. Plus, I want to get in there with the naming before Cat Grant pulls another Power Girl on us."

"You'll get used to it." Barry smiled at his friend with a laugh. "When I was on Earth-3 she dubbed me 'The Blur' faster than you could even say 'Flash'." Jesse smirked to this while Cisco scoffed.

"If I remember correctly, she said something about the Flash sounding like someone who's 'only superpower is jumping out of alleys in trench coats'," Kara quoted, Barry's mentioning of the event causing Kara Danver's memories to flare up in her mind. Jesse actually laughed at that.

"That's a little creepy," Barry said, still not use to Kara having the other Kara's memories.

"But that's not all," Cisco interrupted, moving the discussion along, and put on his best showman's attitude as he drew everyone's attention on to Kara's familiar suit. There was a noticeable addition to what was already there…

"The House of El," Kara breathed, moving up to her mannequin to look at the small 'S' symbol encased within a diamond-like shape. Unlike the symbol on her Earth-3 counterpart's costume, this didn't take pride of place over the chest, instead residing over her heart and about the same size as a heart. It wouldn't be noticeable in great distances, but the fact that it was there pleased Kara.

"Same colour as cape to match," Cisco stated. "It's all about the colour scheme and practicality too. A bigger symbol might weigh on the outfit, and while that may not be a problem for you Kara, it may restrict movement –" Cisco didn't predict the hug that came out of nowhere as Kara wrapped the costume's expect in a rather tight hug.

"It's perfect Cisco, thank you." Kara muttered as she forced herself to unwrap from the tech-whizz. He looked a little ruffled as he smirked to Kara.

"Well, Winn of Earth-3 gave me a necklace of the symbol. It needed to be part of your superhero look eventually – no other way around it. Would seem a bit weird to not be 'Super-something' though with the 'S' but it's not like we call the Flash 'Lightning' or something…" he rambled on, indication of Barry's superhero persona and the symbol that had long-since established itself in relation to the Flash.

"It's technically not an 'S'," Kara said. "It means 'stronger together' – a symbol of my house and family."

"You know, I'd love to learn more about Krypton," Cisco stated wistfully, "Maybe later we can run the holographic program of your mother…?"

All the while this was going on Wally couldn't help but smirk to himself. He felt oddly at home surrounded by these oddballs, but while Jesse seemed resistant to take on a superhero mantle, an idea did occur to the West boy. As conversation encased most of the people gathered – Caitlin, Ray and Barry talking animatedly to each other and Cisco now explaining something about an addition he'd yet to use for Kara's super suit, Wally made his move over to Jesse.

"It's not that bad," he told her, of her suit. "Why so resistant?"

"Because I didn't ask for this," she stated simply, "none of it. I never wanted dad to risk Central City and make metas, I never wanted to be kidnapped and forced to live on this Earth in protection and I certainly didn't ask to be chosen by the speed force to be another speedster. All I want is to live a normal life with my friends."

"But surely these are your friends too?" Wally pointed out, indicating those around them.

"Not really. More my father's friends than mine really. Much as I do like everyone here, including yourself," she couldn't help but smile at Wally, "they will never be those I can never again see on my Earth."

"Hey, never say never, Miss Wells" Wally pointed out. "From what I've heard, until you've accepted yourself as a speedster, you're stuck here. But by embracing all that… you can go home." There was a slight sadness to his voice at this. This wasn't the conversation he wanted to have with Jesse, in fact he wanted a completely different conversation with her, but it was happening.

"Easy for you to say. You weren't affected by that stuff!" Jesse snapped back.

"Hey, lay off," Wally pointed out. "I'd love to be a speedster like Barry. All my life…" he stopped himself before he too went off on a rant, but instead changed tact. "Look, you're stuck here until you think differently. How's about we use that time to our advantage? Tonight my buddy's singing at the youth bar at my college – come with me. Have a drink, sing a few songs, have a little fun."

"Are you asking me out, Mr. West?" Jesse suddenly asked with a genuine smile.

"Might be" Wally replied coyly.

"What time?"

-PowerFlash-

"How do you know this 'Scott Wynn' person?" Jesse asked Wally as they entered the bar. It was an okay place, not the sort of place she was used to on Earth-2, but reminded her of the bar Barry and Iris had taken her too that time when she'd discovered the bad things her dad had done in her name, and when that friend of Caitlin's, Trajectory, had tried to harness the speed force for herself.

"I heard him sing one night, and thought I'd introduce myself. I don't have that many friends around here and Winn's a cool guy," Wally said as they moved over to the bar.

"I thought he was Scott? Unless you call him by his last name," Jesse speculated, knowing some people did go by their last name.

"No, Scott Wynn's his stage name – his real name is Winn Schott Junior, but he doesn't want to be associated to his asshole dad so goes by a stage name when on tour." At this, Wally ordered two of his usual beverages and passed one mug over to Jesse, who took a sip.

"Not bad, a bit too fruity, but it's alright," she muttered as Wally now led her to a table near the front. As he put his mug on the table and moved the chair back for Jesse in a show of compassion, he momentarily thought he saw Barry and Kara back by the bar, but shook of off when a man called out an introduction to his friend to take the stage.

It was nineties night apparently and Winn was opening – there were a few other artists coming up and covering songs, but Winn was apparently opening and closing the gig so Wally knew he could get access to his friend after. He happily cheered on the man who took to the stage, Wally glancing to Jesse who now was watching Winn like everyone else, as the man introduced himself by his stage name and a few back-up singers the bar used regularly took position behind him.

After a moment of settling down, Winn informed the room he'd be singing Céline Dion's 'It's All Coming Back to Me' and, though many had their doubts he could pull off the song, the moment the music started and the moment he began to sing, all his doubters were quickly silenced. He subtly played with the crowd as he sung, pulled them in on his every word and deafened the rest at his powerful vocals – at the bar, two individuals were in shock at how brilliantly he sung and how he made the song his own that, by the end, even they were whooping at his brilliant work.

The rest of the night went well; Jesse and Wally drank and listened to the songs, enjoying the night and each other's company, although it seemed the alcohol didn't go to either of their heads – Jesse for obvious reason but not so much for Wally. He didn't care though as, by the night's end, with generic music blasting over the speaker and Winn coming to their table, he was adamant to introduce Jesse to his musical friend.

Winn also had a surprise for Wally it seemed, as a mixed race man of around Wally's age came up to Winn who clapped him on the back. "Wally, my man, Jesse… may I introduce my brother Jim?" he called above the music as he and Jim took spare seats at the little table.

"I didn't know you had a brother!" Wally exclaimed as Winn grinned.

"Half-brother on my mum's side. She's still married to his dad, my step-dad although he's a better dad than mine," Winn explained as Jim shook hands with Jesse.

"It's cool," Wally, stated, "I have a foster brother who is completely part of the family, so I know what it's like." He smiled at Jim while he and Winn began to talk. It wasn't long before Wally needed the bathroom and Winn was called away by some of the bar crew, leaving Jim and Jesse alone; although on his way to men's room Wally definitely saw Barry and Kara at the bar and couldn't help but glare at both of them, wondering what they were doing at the place when neither could get drunk and both could be needed to do their hero stuff in the city.

"Wow he did not look happy to see us," Kara stated from the bar to Barry. "Perhaps we should have asked to follow him and Jesse here instead of being covert?"

"Not a good idea." Barry shook his head. "I didn't want him to know we were here in the first place."

"True," Kara admitted before asking, "Why did you want to follow him and Jesse anyway?"

"Just intuition," Barry muttered, "can you hear what Winn's brother is saying?" She had let him in on Winn's reveal earlier, having easily been able to hear the men over the music with her super hearing.

"I think… I think he's flirting with her. Wally won't like that." She stated, a little unsure. "Isn't Jesse meant to be his date?"

"Well, we'll soon find out. He's coming out of the bathroom now," Barry indicated Wally returning to the table.

Both watched as Wally made it back and sat down. Barry saw Jesse say something, Jim say something else and then suddenly Wally was on him, punches flying at irregular and superior speeds that a normal human shouldn't have been capable of. Barry and Kara didn't waste time in jumping to action themselves, pushing quickly through the crowds to pull Wally off Winn's brother who now lay unconscious on the floor. Jesse seemed in shock as the music was suddenly cut out at the spectacle made. Someone shouted and Kara could hear one of the barmen calling for an ambulance.

"I'll stay with Jim," Kara said quickly, "assess the damage. You get him out of here. Jesse, go with them." She insisted to her sister suddenly, the change of events not quite registering with the female speedster as Wally now seemed in shock at the damage he'd inflicted on the boy, but did react to the instructions going on around him, willingly and quickly leaving with Jesse and Barry as Winn came to his brother's side.

"What happened?" He called as a barman said that ambulance was incoming. "Who are you?"

"It was an accident, Winn." Kara stated, not thinking that she hadn't been introduced to this version of her parallel friend before, who shook his head surprisingly at her. "Your brother was flirting with Jesse and he kind of… he lost it. I'm sorry. I think he has at least three fractured ribs and internal bleeding." Kara stated, having used her x-ray vision quickly.

"Damnit…" Winn sighed, putting a hand on his half-brother's forehead, just as a siren announced the arrival of the medical team.

-PowerFlash-

"Superhuman speeds?" Caitlin asked with intrigued as Barry recalled all that had happened at the bar, well most of it. Wally was now sitting on the bed, wired up to several machines as she took readings while Cisco had vanished at the mention of the possibility that Wally could be a speedster.

"I didn't…" Wally stated a little quietly. He'd been in shock since he'd been pulled off Jim and now Jesse was by his side, holding his hand as she looked to him in concern. She hadn't said anything since they'd arrived.

"Winn or his brother could place charges against him," Caitlin told Barry in a low whisper. She and Barry were in the Cortex, looking over some of the readings they'd collected of Wally so far.

"Joe will help get him off. Just as long as he didn't do too much damage to Jim." Barry sighed, glancing to the doorway. "She should be back by now," he added distractedly.

"Kara probably just wants to make sure Jim's okay and that Winn doesn't get too mad," Caitlin stated distractively as she read over something else on the monitor.

"True. Damn, Winn could sing though, I never knew that…" Barry muttered, keeping behind Caitlin now as he looked in at Wally with concern too.

"Different Winn," Caitlin muttered distractedly. "Maybe the one on Earth-3 couldn't sing but this one could. Should get Cisco to see if he can vibe that, he's getting better at it after all… Oh."

"Oh?" Barry moved in. "Why 'oh'?"

Caitlin, however, moved off and back to Wally and Jesse in the medical bay. Jesse looked up while Wally kept a glance in the distance. "Wally?" Caitlin asked a little hesitantly.

"What is it, Cait?" Jesse asked as she looked to her friend. "Is he a speedster like me and Barry?"

"Well…" Caitlin didn't feel comfortable telling Jesse and not Wally, but Wally was in the room and, shocked or not, he would be able to process what she way saying. "Yes" Caitlin sighed. "It seemed like he was affected by the speed force in exactly the same way you were, in fact your readings there are identical…" at this Wally motioned to look up at the bioengineer.

"Why… why wasn't I in a coma like Jess or Barry?" he asked, his voice raspy now.

"I honestly don't know. I think your metabolism coped with the change more easily than Barry's or Jesse's, but that's only a hypothesis – until I talk to doctors Wells or Stein I can't know for sure…" Caitlin stated sympathetically.

"But that won't stop us from moving ahead on a different front." Cisco had entered the Cortex again, his voice carrying into the med bay as he seemed to be pulling something behind him. Before he could precede much further though, Kara appeared behind him, looking a little haggard.

"Jim?" Barry asked quickly as Cisco raised his hands in annoyance, his interruption interrupted it seemed.

"Some broken ribs, internal bleeding and a lot of bruising. He'll pull through though, but Barry, get this – his full name is James Olsen!" Kara announced.

"What? But he and Winn…?" Barry tried, neither men having announced their relation while he'd been on Earth-3.

"Different Olsen I guess. I know the pair on Earth-3 are not brothers and Jim doesn't look like James, at all," Kara stated, "but I think he's the closest to the same person we're going to get, not that I want to have a James Olsen here. Besides, he goes by Jim instead on this Earth. Winn's a bit distraught but I explained that Wally and Jesse were a thing and he knew Wally has a bit of a temper on him so hopefully they'll still be cool, but I don't know for sure…"

"Is anyone going to ask me what I have?" Cisco said, although mentally noting to ask more about this Earth's Winn once the hype had died down.

"It's another speedster outfit on a mannequin on a trolley," Kara stated dismissively.

"Another outfit?" Barry asked as Cisco rolled his eyes at Kara and tugged at the thing he was pulling – indeed it was a trolley holding a mannequin in a rather silver-y outfit.

Wally was in the Cortex before anyone could comment, as he looked the suit up and down and asked Cisco, "Mine?"

"A prototype for you. Harry said you were a speedster before we knew for sure so I knocked this up. I don't have your measurements on spec so I estimated but I can modify it to your right physique. Do you like it?"

Even Jesse couldn't help but whistle at the sleek design: It was similar, although more manly, to Jesse's – a two-tone mix of silver running into black, with silver gloves and black boots. The mask was more like Barry's although missing the cranium, covering around the head but not the top and was also in a similar silver texture to the top of the outfit. It supported the same lightning symbol that Jesse's and Barry's suit had, but in the same center chest-position of Barry's.

"That is so cool!" Wally couldn't help but admit. "I never thought… I mean, I'm actually a speedster?"

"Jim Olsen would confirm that," Kara stated a little somberly.

"I didn't mean to do that," Wally stated, suddenly deflated, "I mean yeah, I wanted to beat the guy up for making a move on Jess, but I didn't mean… you said he was to be okay, right?"

"After some surgery and a few weeks in hospital he'll be up and about, yeah." Kara stated.

"I'll beg for Winn's forgiveness and try to explain things –" Wally immediately stated.

"He's fine. He knew Jim was trying to make a move on Jesse," Kara could see her sister blushing behind Wally now, "but the severe damage… even I couldn't explain that away."

"Maybe we shouldn't," Barry announced, Kara and Wally looking to him confused. "If he's anything like the Winn from the other Earth, he'd be cool with superheroes and the like…"

"Introduce yet another one to Team Flash though?" Caitlin asked. "We already have us lot, Harry, Stein, Jax and Ray, add to that the gang from Star City and any of Ray or Firestorm's time-travelling buddies…"

"Oh, Winn is cool though. He'd be a great friend and asset," Cisco tried.

"The Winn you knew from Earth-3!" Caitlin corrected him. "We know nothing of this Winn apart from the fact he's a good singer."

"No… he would be good to the team actually," Wally vocalized. "Singing is his passion, but he's a tech wiz like Cisco. He worked as a technician for one of those big companies for a few years before he got bored and started the singing thing. He'd be awesome here, I'm sure!"

"Not just saying that because you want a friend on your side are you?" Caitlin warned Wally.

"No… I also want to show off my new speedster outfit," Wally smirked to Cisco as Caitlin sighed to herself, moving off so as not to argue her point with Iris' brother. Wally watched her a little worriedly for a moment before he glanced back at the suit. "So, what's the name you've come up with for me?"

"That one's obvious" Barry stated suddenly. "Look at the colour scheme. You're called Silver, am I right, Cisco?"

"Yep!" Cisco smirked. "I was thinking 'Kid Flash' but who wants to be called a kid when they're in their twenties? No, I think 'Silver' works better. It indicates speed as well as the colour of the outfit. Unless you or Cat Grant can come up with something better, I think it will be great." He and Wally shared a grin as Barry couldn't help but chuckle at Vibe's enthusiasm.

"Some first date" Jesse muttered behind Wally, who span to face her.

"Next time I'll try and not beat anyone up. If you want a next time, that is?" the others quickly distracted themselves with Wally's new suit, while Wally waited for Jesse's response.

"Yeah," she gave him a sly wink, smirked quickly to Kara before adding. "There's got to be a next time, Mr. West."

 _._ _.._

 _Next time..._

 _"Tell me, Black Siren, ever since your unruly team up with 'Team Flash' have you actually seen a change in your living conditions? Have you been utilised beyond a scream on a stick? Because I can help. You need me."_

 _Donna moved toward the front of her cell, listening intently. "I get daily bathroom breaks now, one shower a week, but no, there's not been a change… I haven't been let out since I apparently helped stop Duplicate, and Allen doesn't want anything more to do with me. What are you offering?"_

 _"Equality, freedom… anything you want," the man responded._

 _"Your name first, then I'll think to your offer," Donna stated, now on her feet, inches from the glass and looking to the man, trying to decipher who he was, what he could be._

 _"Merlyn."_

* * *

Post-chapter Note: I would like to remind you all that not every story can feature an enemy or villain-of-the-week situation, and not all chapters should – and neither can every chapter can be a billion words long to please those quick-readers out there, but nevertheless I hope this one didn't disappoint. I wanted to include Winn and I also wanted to include Wally and Jesse in front-and-center roles so this was the result, I hope you all liked!


	9. Rogue Potential

As usual I shall be dedicated a chapter to one of you, and this week that will be guest reviewer, Maria! I have never been able to reply to you, but even so, your input helps me greatly. I hope you're an Arrow fan too, because even though episode eight is usually the Arrow crossover, in Power Girl that will be this chapter! Although not featuring the 'main three', this chapter allows some of the underling vigilantes of Star City time to shine, and there's a certain Lance pair that just gets a great love-in here, cos I love them. As usual though, read, enjoy and review! Sigma out.

Episode Nine – Rogue Potential.

The man appeared as if out of nowhere from the shadows, observing the woman sleeping in the cell. Cocking his head in momentary thought, he pressed the intercom button which buzzed loudly, waking the sleeping woman who groaned aloud and looked to the man. She sat up, eyes wide before she too cocked her head to the side.

"Good morning, Miss Nance…"

"W-who are you?" the Black Siren asked as she rubbed her eyes and stretched, "And what do you want? Does Barry know you're here?"

"Mr. Allen hasn't a clue. In fact, no-one knows I'm here – it's one of my skills; being the dead of night has its advantages too, Donna."

"So what exactly are you doing here?" Siren yawned.

"I want to recruit you" the man said simply.

"Recruit me? Recruit me for what? I'm not exactly army material."

"It's not exactly the army I want you to join. Tell me, Donna, ever since your unruly team up with 'Team Flash' have you actually seen a change in your living conditions? Have you been utilised beyond a scream on a stick? Because I can help. You need me."

Donna moved toward the front of her cell, listening intently. "I get daily bathroom breaks now, one shower a week, but no, there's not been a change… I haven't been let out since I apparently helped stop Duplicate, and Allen doesn't want anything more to do with me. What are you offering?"

"Equality, freedom… anything you want," the man responded.

"Your name first, then I'll think to your offer," Donna stated, now on her feet, inches from the glass and looking to the man, trying to decipher who he was, what he could be.

"Merlyn."

"Like the wizard?" They even had the legends of the wizard, Merlin, on Earth-2.

"If you like," Malcolm Merlyn stated, a small smirk on his face. "So, what about it?"

"I've only just started building the trust of those idiots, but only just. I can't afford to wait forever for them to realise they need the Siren again. But I also have this stupid collar on which isn't pleasant at the best of times." She indicated the Siren Call device on her neck, so close to the Canary Cry collar Cisco had designed for Laurel, but so far from it too.

"Easy fixes," Malcolm shrugged. "So, care to join me?"

-PowerFlash-

"Siren's escaped?" Barry and Kara had been called into the Cortex as early as possible by Cisco to be delivered the news. Caitlin was worried, Cisco furious and Ray just slightly amused by it all.

"Along with Anti-Flash and Tokamak," Cisco sighed irritably, he was sitting at the desk, running his hands through his hair in irritation, Caitlin was beside him and now Barry moved behind him.

"Sorry, who's Tokamak?" Barry asked, a little confused. He thought he knew all the metas they had in lock up.

"Henry Hewitt, the scientist who could have been one half of Firestorm," Caitlin chimed in.

"We had Henry Hewitt in lock up?" Barry asked. "I thought we released him on a vow of silence?"

"Did you really think he'd remain silent for long?" Cisco pointed out in frustration, "But that's beside the point; we had a break out and a violation on our systems. This is bad – like majorly bad."

"But wait, I get Siren can be dangerous, Anti-Flash is a nuisance, but Hewitt…? Firestorm is nice, so shouldn't he be?" Kara asked tentatively, trying not let the others' worry overwhelm her. "How come he still has powers if he's not part of Firestorm anyway?"

"I guess his meta-human gene needed activating by Stein?" Cisco shrugged.

"He gained a Firestorm-like power though, able to fire intensive energy blasts from his body with extreme damage to others," Caitlin informed Kara now, Barry looking to her in thought.

"Thus Tokamak, like the plasma experiments in Russia," Ray countered, with a nod to Cisco.

"He's also a super genius, of your father's level," Barry muttered to Kara, running a hand over the nape of his neck in worry. "How did they get out anyway, and when?" He wanted to keep the conversation on track. This needed to be cleared up and dealt with.

"Early hours of the morning while Harry and Jesse were asleep – surveillance footage went down for twenty minutes and when it came back their cells were empty," Cisco replied in annoyance.

"Wait, if Jesse and Harry were here, where was Kara...?" Ray asked, looking to Kara who avoided his eyes as Ray realised, seeing her glance coyly to Barry. "Oh, right…"

"Why those three though?" Barry quickly took over before conversation deteriorated beyond salvation.

"Not a clue," Cisco informed them. "One is basically Barry, one can scream loud enough to bring down buildings and the other can burn things… seems like a strange combination, but if we can find out who released them..."

"Wait, could they be working on Duplicate's order?" Kara asked, suddenly concerned about her creator. "I may have broken free of her signal, but Anti wasn't going to any time soon."

"Impossible," Cisco countered, "when we got Anti-Flash locked up I was able to put a dampening field on his cell. When we gained Duplicate, and after Siren initially knocked out her signal, I was able to put a similar dampening field upon hers. The only thing she can control now is herself and that alone seems to cause her trouble – she didn't get out last night." There was a small smile on his face at this, despite the situation. Duplicate had caused them enough trouble and Cisco was happy he had control of her.

"Sounds like you guys have problems."

They all looked up to see Sara Lance standing in the doorway of the Cortex, grinning at the group in spite of the situation and, next to her, was someone all too familiar, someone supposed to be dead.

"Laurel?" Ray quickly moved toward her as he stared to the woman in shock.

"Not Laurel," Sara quickly moved over the threshold, dragging the Laurel lookalike with her as Barry and Cisco now exchanged glances – of all the people let in on Laurel's clone's existence beyond Joe and Quentin Lance, they had known. It wasn't too difficult, Barry working in the CCPD where the clone-maker had been kept, and Cisco for keeping regular eyes on those in containment, thanks to his deal with the police department. The others were in a need-to-know basis, and they didn't need to know… until now it seemed.

"Dinah," the clone girl stated with a small smile, holding out her hand for Ray to shake. "Dinah Lance, Laurel's… twin?" With some of the associated memories of Laurel in her head, she didn't quite like to claim to be the same person, but she felt close enough to the former Canary to take, and embrace, her actual given first name. And of course call her deceased original template her twin – it was easier that way and Felicity had already falsified records to back this claim.

"Twin huh?" Kara smirked. "I think we have more in common than you think" She gave Dinah a wink, instantly knowing what was going on here – by being a clone, in a way Dinah was Laurel's twin; the same way Kara herself was original Kara's twin.

"What are you doing here?" Cisco asked, ever the fan of the Canaries, whether that was the White or Black variant.

"Visiting mom," Dinah stated. "Sara and dad thought it best to deal with my existence face-to-face and since she lives in Central, we thought we'd drop in on you guys." She smiled at Kara, knowing Kara was right. Sara had explained Kara to her in the best way she knew, so Dinah knew they shared extremely similar starts in life.

"How did Dinah Senior take it?" Cisco had gotten side-tracked.

"After my coming back from the dead twice, nothing seems to sway her anymore, so surprisingly easily," Sara shrugged, adding quickly: "So what's the story here? Some people have escaped from lock up?"

"Yeah. Dangerous people," Cisco now turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Barry's clone, a fire-producing meta and Laurel's Earth-2 duplicate."

"Laurel's a meta-human on Harry's Earth?" Sara asked, not having been let in on this information before.

"Yep. Also, she goes by Donna Nance and isn't anything like Laurel or even Dinah here. They only share a face, nothing else," Barry thought he'd better get this out of the way quickly, knowing what it was like to get caught up in parallel lives. If Sara tried to see any similarities in Siren, more than hell could be broken loose when Siren inevitably disappointed Sara, much like when he'd been caught up in his double's life on Earth-2. "Hang on, didn't you put that collar on her? The Siren Call that she called a leash?" Barry suddenly asked Cisco, remembering this fact.

"You mean this?" Cisco pulled out the Siren Call from the desk draw. It was broken in half. "It seems Anti's been practicing with his powers while confined…"

"You guys should really think up a better system than locking metas up, you know," Kara stated sadly.

"I think we're about to get that," Caitlin suddenly spok up, looking at the street camera surveillance around the facility to see several SUVs were pulling up, the lead of which two familiar figures were already exiting.

"Alex and Lyla!" Kara couldn't help but grin as she watched her closest friend and their boss taking the lead, heading into the facility without a how-do-you-do.

"What happened to your top-of-the-range security?" Barry asked Cisco hesitantly.

"Three breakouts and people walking in without a care?" Cisco stated, "I don't think we have security any more. Something should be done about that."

"And drastically," Lyla had made it to the Cortex already, Alex behind her as well as four ARGUS soldiers; there were more troops, but they had been ordered to remain with the cars until further notice.

"Lyla, Alex," Cisco nodded to the pair, Caitlin and Sara smiling at them – especially since Alex was an old friend of Caitlin's – while the others ignored them. Except for Kara who lunged at her friend without a second glance and had Alex in a tight embrace. Alex grinned into the hug, having likened Kara to a sister in their time together.

"Mr. Ramone, Allen, we are aware of the breakout and you won't like what we have to say about it." Lyla stated, looking remorseful as Barry stood to attention, waiting, and Cisco leaned back in his chair. "Malcolm Merlyn," Lyla stated simply. "He was seen entering Central City within minutes of the breakout and has not been detected since."

"Merlyn?!" Sara asked, no longer smiling at her friend's wife. "Bored of Star City now? Why does he want metas? What does he want?"

"We don't know everything Sara, but we suspect he's using metas to form a new League of Assassins. He has contacts still from the League – ever since Nyssa disbanded it, technically it's been easy for the taking, and who better to take it back than the Magician himself?"

"Bloody man" Sara scowled, her fists shaking in range as she suddenly directed her anger at the desk, punching it in fury; Dinah moved to her sister to see if she'd damaged herself, but Sara waved her off. "Why was Nyssa so foolish? Did she not see this coming? Merlyn had League members on his side up until the end; just because she melted the Ring it doesn't mean loyalties wouldn't be turned elsewhere! There was more than just her who needed to find new life, not that she did really…"

"The League of Assassin?" Kara spoke up next to Alex now, looking to Sara and Lyla in confusion.

"An ancient order of ninjas able to control the world in the shadows through the use of stealth and manipulation," Lyla responded quickly. "It was disbanded by the Demon's Daughter a few months ago but such an organisation never truly dies. History repeats itself after all."

"Oh," Kara muttered. "And what are we going to do about it?"

Lyla turned now to look at her, slightly confused. "Do?"

"Well, are we to stop this Merlyn from re-forming it with Siren and company or what?"

"That's partially why we're here, Kara." Alex muttered to Kara. "Since you're here all the time now, Lyla wanted to see if we could set up a little extension of ARGUS's meta-human department here, and through this we can sure up the holding facility of metas so they either never break out again or can be reformed back to helpful members of the community."

"Seems reasonable," Kara stated, glancing to Barry for his approval. He did own STAR labs after all.

"I think one thing at a time," Barry stated hesitantly. "Lyla, Alex, do you know where Merlyn, Siren, Anti and Hewitt are now?"

"We haven't got a clue. Merlyn works in the shadows – it's easy to believe he took the other three with him; they've all gone rogue."

"Rogue?" Cisco asked suddenly, his eyes lighting up, Barry knowing where this was going: "Like a Rogue Gallery?"

"Rogue Gallery?" Alex and Kara asked together.

"They're what I call the bad guys, well a group of bad guys," Cisco quickly explained. "Originally it was just Captain Cold and Heatwave, but then it expanded when some of our metas escaped the pipeline when we were trying to move them – long story. Point is, if we have a new Rogue Gallery to stop, we have plenty of reinforcement: Flash, Power Girl, Silver, Quick, Atom and Firestorm. Our own little… Justice Gallery? No, that's not right. I'll come up with something though."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Cisco, but we don't have Firestorm," Ray pointed out. "Stein took Jax to Pittsburgh again to train – said they'd been away for too long and needed brushing up. Personally I think they're solid, but…" he let his voice trail off before adding: "You do have Atom and White Canary here, too."

"Regardless of who you have to help take on your Rogue Gallery idea," Lyla quickly spoke up, "we still don't know where Merlyn or the others are. We need eyes on the streets – I doubt they've travelled far. Or at least, I hope they haven't gone far anyway."

"That's easy," Kara suddenly spoke up, "Barry and I will scout out for them."

"Thought you would," Alex smirked now. "When did you get so forthright?"

"Since Cat Grant named me Power Girl, I think." Kara gave her mentor a little wink at this.

"Right, so Kara you take to the air, Barry you take to the streets – any sign of these rogues, you call it in and we'll go out as back up." Lyla stated, assuredly.

"Caitlin, get in contact with Jesse and Wally, tell them they're needed. First mission, no backing out." Barry stated to his colleague and friend, he and Kara suddenly vanishing in a moment to return in their outfits – Kara with the added blue-and-white House of El symbol now, displaying it proudly over her heart and about the same size as the organ too.

"We'll let you know of anything, keep you informed. This shouldn't take too long." Kara stated, glancing to the Flash now before they both sped out of the labs.

"I'm never going to get used to that," Lyla stated at the cold rush of air the two speedsters left in their wake.

"I don't think you ever will," Ray muttered; he too feeling the same way to both heroes' speeds.

-PowerFlash-

Jesse and Wally turned up about ten minutes later to a very silent Cortex.

Cisco and Caitlin had their positions on the computer banks, Ray and Sara were pacing, Dinah and Alex were in conversation while Lyla remained behind the two technicians on the computers, biting her fingernails in desperation.

"Wow, seems like a funeral in here," Jesse stated, trying to lighten the mood a little, as ever.

"We lost contact with both Flash and Power Girl a few minutes ago, we think it was their relay, but it could also be a sonic disruption," Lyla stated, looking to the new pair now before moving over to them. "Miss Wells and Mr. West, I assume?"

"Yeah," Wally held out his hand. "It's lucky you've got me – no classes today."

"Yeah, me and Wally were just…" Jesse started, but realised personal chat wasn't on the cards today. "So, sonic disruption?"

"As Ms. Snow informed you on the phone, STAR has had a mass break out last night –"

"I wouldn't say 'mass' – it was only three metas," Cisco countered.

"– which included Black Siren. Utilised, she has the ability to knock out Barry and Kara's communications array," Lyla continued without a hint of Cisco's interruption.

"We've isolated their last known location, so you two and Ray are to go and check it out," Caitlin stated.

"Suit up?" Wally smirked to Jesse.

"Fine," Jesse groaned, still not sure about being a hero but if Kara was in trouble she had to go.

The two took a little longer than expected changing into their outfits – Wally into his black and silver attire, Jesse into her red and yellow – but they returned looking ready to do business. "Cat Grant's going to have fun when she sees us," Wally noted, pulling on the sleeves in slight discomfort.

"That's the least of my worries," Jesse moaned, checking her reflection in the glass of Barry and Kara's suit container.

"Your mission is to rescue Flash and Power Girl," Lyla went on, ignoring the banter, "if they happen to have their so-called rogues in tow, help detain them and get all back here in sufficient time."

"Yes ma'am," Jesse gave a mock salute to the head of the ARGUS before glancing to Wally. "Well, better now than never." Her chest was pounding – this was something Jesse had never wanted to do, let alone accept, but the time had come with Barry and Kara possibly needing their help.

"Together?" Wally suddenly suggested, holding his hand out to Jesse, who took it gratefully.

Lightning suddenly flashed in both of their eyes and then they were gone, running the streets of Central faster than a normal human being ever could. Caitlin had given them their destination, but they weren't ready yet – neither had ran the city and this speed before and it felt so freeing, both feeling so alive… Even Jesse couldn't help admitting that this felt better than she'd expected, better than when she'd ran the treadmill.

Wally began to move Jesse in a direction and she didn't argue, the yellow and silver blurs speeding toward an old Lord Enterprises warehouse where they came to a sudden stop, just shy of bursting through the door. "Last known location," Wally now whispered to Jesse, who nodded.

"It's very possible they're inside somewhere." This was Ray's voice, both looking around to see him take sudden form out of thin air; he was grinning when he reached full height. "Oh it's been a while since I was Atom! I'll go first, see what's happened and then you can… you know, come after me." Before anyone could counter this, Atom had shrunk again and flew quickly through the crack in the door.

He stopped very suddenly at the sight that presented itself: Barry was trapped in some sort of glass container, trying to vibrate his way out of it, while Kara seemed held in some metal cage, red lights glowing at her from all directions. He saw Malcolm in discussion with a black man, the Laurel double was pacing around Kara, while Anti-Flash, in his electric-blue uniform, sped around the real Barry in some form of torment. This wasn't what he expected – why go so far as to capture the Flash and Power Girl? Unless it was a test or a trap? Perhaps they needed ARGUS agents instead of superheroes for this one.

Before Ray could voice what he saw or what he was thinking back to the two speedster behind the door, the door itself burst open, Wally and Jesse stepping in to see the scene themselves, Merlyn and Tokamak turning quickly to look at them while both Siren and Anti-Flash stopped their pacing. Barry and Kara looked to the pair now, half-worried, half-impressed.

"Silver and Quick, I assume?" Merlyn asked, stepping forward.

Ray quickly expanded to full size next to the two speedsters as Merlyn took a step backward. "And Atom? Well this is a class reunion." He looked back to Barry, "all we need is Oliver and Sara and it would be like old times."

"Not happening, Merlyn." Ray stated. "What's your plan?"

"Do I really need a plan?" Merlyn smirked, "I don't act – I just do, as a great man once said. I can't remember who. The point is, I needed friends and now I have them."

"Let us go!" Kara suddenly stated, "I don't know how you… I feel so weak, but please, Malcolm, let us go."

"Shut up, alien." Siren suddenly spat at Kara, glaring at her as Merlyn raised an eyebrow to the trapped Kryptonian.

"Do you like it?" Merlyn sudden referred to Kara's cage. "Red sun technology. I wouldn't believe it myself, but apparently it replicates the light from her home world; Hewitt here helped build it in no time and it took very little to get Little Miss Power Girl here locked up and human…"

"How did you know about red sunlight?" Jesse now asked, her fist clenched at seeing her sister trapped, so close to being rescued but so far too.

"I was once the Demon Head; I had, and still have, eyes and ears everywhere – including ARGUS. Perhaps this will teach the Little Miss not to go blabbing to senior staff at their meta-human facility. I know Ms. Prince would agree with me – I hear the government's Department for Meta-Human Affairs would have something to say about their secret organisation being so careless."

"You have spies at ARGUS," Ray concluded.

"Obviously" Merlyn rolled his eyes. "And it wasn't hard to source material that even the Flash couldn't phase through too." He nodded to Barry. "Helps that it's sound proof. One Barry Allen is enough for me."

"I'm _not_ Barry Allen" Anti-Flash hissed at Merlyn's dry wit.

"Whatever. I suppose now is the time you fight? Three again three? Whomever wins has the fate of Flash and Power Girl on their shoulders, so I'll warn you not to lose, on either side."

Jesse didn't wait. Seeing her sister in such danger she ran to Kara, but Siren stood in front of her and screamed – rocking the building and disabling all three heroes; in fact, it sent Ray's suit's electrics on haywire as he suddenly shrank to half his size before shooting up to being normal-sized once more and sparking dangerously.

A jet of flame shot in front of the three now as Henry Hewitt took centre stage, muttering, "I've been waiting for this for so long!" before aiming his jet straight at Wally, who ran to the side as, distracted, Jesse tried to go for Kara once more, but she wasn't skilled in fighting, as Siren threw a powerful left hook, the female speedster falling to the floor as Kara called her name, worried, hating to see her sister take on her fight.

Ray would have helped, he wanted to help, but his suit was fried – in literally both senses as Siren's scream knocked the circuitry and Tokamak's fire melted some of the external panels. He was useless to the battle now and quickly withdrew, trying to call for back-up from ARGUS while Jesse and Wally took on the two active metas – for some reason, Anti-Flash didn't act; he just stood in front of Barry's cage to watch the inexperienced superheroes take on the Rogues who had trained and tested their abilities long before either superhero had gained theirs.

Wally found himself on his own pretty quickly as Jesse had been rendered unconscious by another blow to the head from Siren and now stood, battered and bleeding, facing Tokamak and Siren. Tokamak resembled Firestorm greatly in that his very features seemed on fire, while Siren simply clenched her blooded fists, standing over Jesse's unconscious form. Kara was whimpering for her sister while Barry kept punching the glass; trying, and failing, to break it and join the fight and help save his friends.

"Looks like it's one-nil to us," Merlyn suddenly stated, removing himself from the shadows of the warehouse as he slowly applauded. "Siren, very good fighting style – I like that you don't rely on your powers. Henry, you seem a little bit too bent on revenge, but I can help you control that. Malcolm Junior," Anti-Flash glanced at this in curiosity, "you don't want to be called Barry Allen, so I suppose naming yourself from me will do for now… nevertheless, you disappoint me. You let the others do the work for you."

"Speak for yourself," Anti muttered. "Who said this is my work? Who said I have to follow your orders?"

"Cold feet?" Wally spat at the blue-cladded anti-hero. Although if they could get this clone to trade sides it would be helpful.

Before Wally could even try and sway Anti, though, there was a sudden bang, like gunfire and Tokamak was on the ground, bleeding from the shoulder and suddenly something dropped on Siren – a white cladded figure with blond hair. Back-up had arrived. Alex, Sara and even Dinah had turned up; Wally didn't wait as he grabbed Anti-Flash before he could react, all thoughts of changing him gone, and slammed him against Barry's cage, the clone collapsing in unconsciousness as Alex fired another shot at Merlyn who dodged the bullet and met Kara's mentor in hand-to-hand combat.

Wally ran Jesse's unconscious form out of the way as he checked to make sure she was okay; moving outside to get some fresh air and suddenly hearing a distressed Caitlin in his ear: "Wally! The signal had been blocked from the warehouse, you've just come back on. What's happening? Ray informed us of Kara and Barry's situation and Alex –"

"They came. Jesse's out cold but fine, I was on my own but I think with Sara, Alex and Dinah we might have the upper-hand now. Merlyn's a bastard though…" Wally sighed.

There was a loud scream, emanating from Siren within and Wally saw it before it happened – the warehouse shook and began to crumble. He took a momentary decision and ran straight into the building, grabbing Alex, who had just freed Kara and taking them both outside, returning just as the walls began to explode outward to grab Sara and Dinah, who were situated near Donna and seemed to have been both fighting the meta before she let the place down. Wally noted Barry's glass container had shattered and both Flashes were gone.

Back outside on the pavement, Wally caught his breath as Alex, Kara, Sara and Dinah looked around in confusion, the warehouse finally tumbling into ruin. "What the hell was all that about?" Wally finally stated to the group.

"Merlyn. He wanted to test his new recruits. Against you. We were the bait," Kara stated, before adding, "where's Barry?"

"Back at the labs with Ray and Anti," Caitlin informed the group through their earpieces. "That was a nasty collapse, but I don't detect any other life signs in the rubble." She added, a little worriedly, "I think Siren, Tokamak and Merlyn are dead!"

"No." This was Sara, "Merlyn never dies. It's not in his nature. Kara, Wally, can you check the rubble? You're the quickest. If you have your powers back?" Sara added to Kara who nodded.

"I think the red sun only dampens the powers; I feel that they're back already," she tilted her head back, allowing a momentary breath of air, the yellow sun's rays to soak in a bit more before she and Wally moved to the rubble, checking in top speed before coming up blank.

"No bodies," Wally confirmed. "Merlyn really is a magician if he can get himself, Siren and Tokamak out of there without us seeing…"

"Not the first time he's been able to fool us," Sara stated darkly. "Come on, let's get back to HQ; at least we managed to get Anti-Flash back…"

-PowerFlash-

They returned to find Ray already trying to make repairs on his Atom suit, Barry pacing before his clone and the others waiting. Lyla stood in front of Anti-Flash, looking as if she were about to shoot him. She was furious.

"Nice to see you all in one piece," Caitlin smiled weakly, "Put Jesse on the bed, I'll look over her." She added this for Wally, who was carrying his unconscious partner before she added: "Shame a lot of the Rogues got away."

"We're so calling them that," Cisco stated, "Revenge of the Rogues – can you imagine it?"

"I'm pretty sure we already had that though," Caitlin countered, starting her check-over of Jesse.

"Please," Lyla interrupted them. "As much as your witty banter is enjoyable, I think the situation is more serious than that. Aside from Mr. Allen's clone here, I have been thinking of our offer and I believe converting Kara's large training room would be a perfect starting place for an ARGUS facility, we can deploy guards to keep an eye on the pipeline and bring in staff to help train and reform some of the meta-humans in containment – in all honestly, Mr. Ramone, the conditions you keep these beings in is less than humane."

"It was Doctor Wells' idea, the original one," Cisco muttered, looking suddenly like a schoolboy being given a month's worth of detention.

"The fake Wells who turned out to be the Reverse-Flash?" Lyla countered. "I would have thought it obvious once his true nature was revealed that you wouldn't keep his methods but…"

"We were putting them in the meta human section of the jail but that went bust," Cisco retorted. "It's not like we have the time or resources to do much else than what we're doing."

"Look, do whatever you think needs to be done," Barry interrupted, "a reformation of our ways was long on the cards and Dig and Kara obvious trust you guys, just… don't turn this place into some sort of military facility, I've had enough of those to last a lifetime." His thoughts were instantly on General Eiling and the hell he and his men had put him through during the first year of his speedster debut.

"We shall play minimal role in 'Team Flash', don't worry." Alex stated quickly, glancing to Lyla, "I shall relocate here myself though to help Kara like I was before, as well as help rehabilitate those in your pipeline and help out on guard duty."

"Sounds good to me," Barry shrugged, his eyes never leaving his double though.

With no more to say, Lyla withdrew herself, indicating for Alex to follow. They were to go and look over Kara's training area as well as the pipeline and neither Barry nor Cisco really cared now – Barry may own the place, but both he and Cisco had come to realise that the way the Labs was utilised for holding metas wasn't humane and something needed to be done about it. Like Eobard Thawne's science to save Jesse, maybe this small takeover was a necessary evil for a better environment. Plus, Barry knew Kara would benefit from having Alex around once more – apart from Jesse, Alex seemed like the female figure she needed for continuous growth.

"Four speedsters." This was Wally. He moved next to Barry to look over the clone. "Wow, he really does look like you though, except for the facial hair…"

"He is my clone," Barry stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Kara looks just like original Kara. Dinah here looks just like Laurel. He should look like me."

"And that's all I'll ever be known as," Anti-Flash suddenly stated, his mask was off but the outfit was still on, "I came to realise that when you lot were fighting and then when Malcolm called me by his name…" He leaned his head back with a groan. "I want an identity, a life, something that isn't Barry Allen or this stupid place."

"STAR Labs isn't stupid," Cisco immediately countered, offended by the remark.

"What did Malcolm offer you?" Sara suddenly asked. "He had to offer you something, this is Merlyn we're talking about."

"Freedom. Identity. Bullshit. He just wanted me to be his slave, like I was my creator's slave," Anti-Flash moaned. "You have me, you may as well just lock me up and let me rot again!"

"No…" Barry suddenly moved away from his double, a lightbulb flashing in his head. He grabbed Cisco by the arm to move him away from the group before muttering to Vibe: "I need Jay Garrick. The real one. I think we can solve two problems with one solution, so to speak. Jay wants to go home; Anti wants an identity. Jay's my late dad's double and Anti is mine…"

"You want to offload Anti on Jay?" Cisco replied back. "I suppose it's worth a shot. I did Vibe the wrong world, and not Earth-3 after all; this time I could even contact Winn while opening a breach."

"That's the spirit. I just hope Jay will cooperate," Barry muttered, turning back to the waiting group. Kara had an odd look on her face, having obviously heard the entire conversation, but it was Anti-Flash whom Barry turned his attention to. He had his eyes closed and his head still lolled back, obviously having accepted his fate.

"So, what do we call you?" Barry asked his double, who didn't react until Barry kicked him on the foot. "I refuse to call you 'Anti' or 'Anti-Flash' anymore, so what do we call you?"

"What…?" Barry's double looked Barry up and down. "You want me to name myself?"

"If you don't, one of us will," Barry indicated the others.

"I called myself Dinah after my proper first name," Dinah helped, Anti glancing at her in confusion as she added, "I'm a clone of Dinah Laurel Lance, who went by Laurel all her life. I go by Dinah myself; Laurel died earlier this year."

"And Kara calls herself Kara after her own self," Anti countered. "It's not very creative and I don't want to be associated with Barry Allen."

"Then how's about Merlyn's suggestion? He may put a bad name to 'Malcolm', but in all honestly Malcolm is better than some other names. You could go by 'Malc' if you find the full name a little too much" Kara voiced.

"Or Mally" Ray suggested thoughtfully.

"Not Mally," Barry's clone countered before looking to Barry again. "I escape, help trap you and Kara in cages and you're not punishing me for it? Am I still unconscious?"

"You've been punished long enough, Malcolm. I never thought to try and help you when we caught Duplicate. I just assumed you would always be her minion," Barry stated with a sigh, "Plus I don't like seeing myself in such a bad condition."

There was a rush of air and Barry turned to see the familiar, and somewhat disconcerting face of his father – of Jay Garrick. He looked momentarily confused to everyone in the room before smiling that almost convincing cover-up smile Barry knew only too well from his real father – it was the smile Henry Allen put on when he wanted Barry to believe he was okay, when he really wasn't. Jay was confused and somewhat lost.

"Ramone called me," he stated, addressing the Barry in the red suit, knowing this to be the right Flash but glancing continuously to the other, to Malcolm.

"Cisco was wrong," Barry stated, taking a breath as he thought of the words he needed to say. "When he vibed your world, he got the wrong place. Your Earth isn't dead; it's very much alive and I've even been to it."

"I don't understand?" Jay frowned at Barry.

"Superman, Starman, Supergirl… they're all part of your world, from the original Kara's word," he indicated Kara before them, "and I want to send you home."

"Supergirl?" Jay responded, having heard of the others too and then faced Kara. "Oh my, you do look like him; like Superman." Jay had met the Man of Steel once or twice and never realized the similarities between Kara and him before. "But I never knew of a Supergirl…" Barry bit his lip. Were they wrong? Was it just a coincidence what Cat had said about their world's Flash?

"When were you taken?" Kara asked firmly, and Jay gave the date which she couldn't help but smirk to. "Then you wouldn't have heard of me – well Supergirl. The original Kara revealed herself to the world not long after you were taken."

Jay couldn't help but grin at this. "Well then send me home, please. I have a city to protect." He was clearly more than overjoyed to be going back to his world and the worry and concern on his face had been completely obliterated now.

"Not so fast," Barry raised a hand. "You're taking your son with you?" Jay raised an eyebrow and Barry took breath. He had never told Jay that his counterpart was his dad, but it was time to explain everything – or at least everything Barry was happy to admit about Jay's other life.

"I had a son" Jay finally voiced when Barry was silent, "but he died, a long time ago" he glanced to Malcolm, who was looking concerned at the older speedster. "I couldn't save him, but I'd be happy to save you" he told Malcom direct, moving over to help the young man up before turning to face Barry once more. "Please, send us home." Barry nodded to Cisco who already had his Vibe goggles out.

"Tell Kara we say hi," Barry added quickly, knowing Cisco was sending them to Kara and Winn as space rippled out in front of Cisco, Jay and Malcolm. The latter still seemed unsure, but didn't waste time in taking an almost literal leap of faith with his new father.

-PowerFlash-

She hated working late, especially as that meant time away from Carter and money straight down the drain to pay for the nanny, but it was a necessary evil if she spent that time wisely, researched all she could about the warehouse destruction and the strange un-Flash like blur that had taken over the city some minutes before that. What had happened? She had read up on the Anti-Flash, on the Reverse-Flash and knew a lot about Zoom, but this was something different, the blur was more pronounced, like there was more than one speedster behind it…

But of course, that was it! There _was_ more than one speedster behind the new blur! Central had gained more. But were they good or evil? The warehouse had long since been abandoned, Maxwell Lord having move his company into the centre of the city some time ago, and that part of the city itself now only having low-lives and rodents; there were no reliable first-hand information, no traces in the rubble. It was possible that the Black Siren woman had returned, the one who looked so much like the deceased Laurel Lance, aka Black Canary – she had toppled a few buildings in her debut after all. But the Canary wasn't the Siren and if rumours were to be believed, Siren was from Zoom's world, not this one. She was also meant to be on Team Flash now, unless her allegiance had changed.

Parallel universes, meta-humans, multiple speedsters… if Cat wasn't so confident in herself she would call for back up in keeping up with all this city had to offer, but she wasn't that sort of person and she wouldn't give up or give in even if her life depended on it. Time and tide may wait for no man, but the media waited for no woman.

There was a sudden breeze and Cat looked up to see if a window had been opened and had to blink several times. Maybe she had dozed off? Superheroes never came to speak directly to the media, they just let the papers do their things and they did their superhero bits. But sure as the sun would rise. four people now stood at the entrance to her makeshift office – she recognised the Flash and Power Girl, but the other two were new to her.

"I usually have to wait several weeks to get an interview with one celebrity, not hours for four. What can I do for you… heroes?" Cat asked, not getting out of her seat as she looked the four over.

"Miss Grant" Power Girl stood forward; Cat noted the symbol on her chest and cocked her head curiously at it; it wasn't a lightning bolt like the other three, so her association was definitely different to the speedsters – if the red and yellow and silver and black heroes were speedsters, of course. "We trust you and your reporter Iris West not to make a biased report on recent events, we believe it was about time you got your first real article on the Superheroes of Central City."

"You've come for an interview? Well…" Cat leaned back in her chair. "Where do we begin? Maybe with you two," she nodded to the potential speedsters. "What do we call you?"

"Silver," the male one answered first.

"And Quick," the woman responded; her voice quivering as if she were nervous. That was interesting.

"Unusual names. Not what I would go for, but I got to name Power Girl," she nodded to the other female, "so I'll give you that. Tell me, what do you know about the warehouse destruction today? Blurs similar to yourselves were seen only minutes before the collapse."

"We can tell you everything." This time the Flash spoke, he alone covering his voice with that strange vocal wavering Eileen had informed her of, "but we have to start at the beginning. And we cannot give identities."

"Of course," Cat leaned forward, extracting a pen from a cup holder and picking up her pad. "I have all night." Suddenly the idea of paying for a nanny didn't seem at all bad.

 _..._

 _Next Time..._

 _"I think we have some visitors…" Barry ran, speeding down the building and toward the area he'd spotted the strange movement, moving up the side of Lord Enterprise's twelve-storey building to come to a stop just behind two strangely dressed people. One, he actually recognized in a red outfit, supporting a bow and arrow, but the other he didn't. His outfit – it was definitely a 'he' – was a mishmash of blacks and blue, but it was Speedy who turned around to face the speedster first._

 _"I wondered how long it would be before we got your attention." She couldn't help but grin as Barry smiled lightly back at her._

 _"What are you doing here? Who's this?" Barry asked a little defensively._

 _"Tracking down a meta this guy lost," Thea Queen explained, glancing to her cohort, "and this is Nightwing."_

* * *

Post-chapter Note: So, I would like to apologise to those who read the previous chapter within the first few hours of posting – as in it, Jim made a move on Wally, not Jesse as intended! I have no idea how myself and my beta missed this so many times, but as you can see now, Jim makes a move on Jesse and all is right with the world. But this does bring me to another point: Sexualities in my Power Girl universe. We obviously already have characters such as Nyssa, Sara, Captain Sing and even Hartley, to name just a few homosexual characters on the show already, and I intend to stick with them and even add in a few more by season's end. I also see sexuality as something part of a singular character, not their multi-verse self, so while say Sara is gay (or bi due to Olly) in this world, Earth-2 or 3's Sara would be completely straight. The same goes the other way as, even though I won't be addressing this in the story due to other plotlines taking more importance, Donna Nance (aka. Black Siren) is gay in my stories – not because she's a baddie; she's a baddie due to circumstances and attitude, but happens to be gay too. So there you have it, a little sight into how I see the multiverse in terms of the characters…


	10. Vigilante Injustice

So, this week's chapter dedication goes to another guest reviewer – Jordan! You asked who I envision playing Nightwing in the 'Arrowverse' and, while I do have a rough idea myself, I will not state here as I hope people here have their own head-canon for the character they can transplant onto this Nightwing. So, whoever you see playing Nightwing, or indeed if you see the character without a portrayal, then that's who he is. Sigma out.

Episode Ten – Vigilante Injustice

It was strange. Even though she had stood in the office just the other day; now, without the mask, the friends and the outfit and just in normal clothes and by herself… Cat Grant seemed a lot more intimidating than ever before. She thought that having Kara Danvers memories of the woman would make this easier, but that was far from the truth.

Kara hadn't wanted to get a job, let alone go on an interview, but at the insistence from Alex that she couldn't just mooch off her friends and family, Kara had gritted her teeth and looked for the first thing that came along. When that had failed and she bumped into Iris to discover the Cat Grant's PA job was still open, it seemed like a match – one that her Earth-3 double would have had agreed on. After all, she did have some experience there with her memories of the other life – depending on how different the two Cats were, she should know everything for this job already.

Which was why she stood here, in the doorway to Cat Grant's makeshift office at CatCo Picture News, looking to the media mogul with a sense of building dread and anticipation. She hadn't even spoken to the woman until she knocked on one of the glass panels to get her attention.

As Cat looked up, she cocked her head in somewhat surprise before squinting her eyes momentarily and sighing. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

"I've come about the PA job," Kara hesitated. "Iris mentioned…"

"I thought Eileen had long since given up finding someone to match her apparent skills," Cat muttered, nevertheless not removing her eyes from Kara all the same. "Have we met before? You look very familiar."

A 'Yes' would have been the appropriate answer, but since she didn't want Cat Grant knowing her immediate secret there and then, Kara went with the alternative. "No, Ms. Grant. Iris suggested…"

"Of course she did," Cat interrupted and leaned on her fists, placed under her chin as her elbows rested on her desk. She didn't remove her slightly larger-than-life glasses. "Take a seat, Miss…?"

"Wells," Kara supplied, nervously taking the seat offered. "Kara Wells."

"Wells? As in Harrison Wells? I didn't believe he had any children," Cat remained in position, her eyes searching every inch of Kara, making the secret superhero rather uncomfortable.

"No. He… he was my uncle. My dad's brother." It was the story she, Harry and Jesse had come up with together, and the records that had been faked to accommodate. If anyone looked into it they would discover Harrison Wells had twin who had two daughters; one biological and one adopted. They had kept Kara as the adopted child, since she looked nothing like the dark-haired rest of the family.

"Elaborate," Cat stated, unable to hide the curiosity from her vocals.

"Urm, I don't – well, Harrison Wells was one of twins; his brother is my dad. Harold Wells. He goes by Harry though… but, Ms. Grant, I thought this would be a job interview, not a life interview?" Kara tried a tactical approach.

"And what are job interviews if they aren't about your life?" Cat stated, finally leaning back slightly so as to rest her arms on the desk. "Well then, Karen –"

"It's Kara –"

"– what experience have you had in this particular career path?" Cat ignored the name correction. Iris had warned Kara of this, and in her memory experience of Cat, Kara had expected it. Hell, Cat Grant still called original Kara 'Kiera', and Kara had almost been expecting that name too. "Why choose to come and work under Cat Grant? Are you sure I haven't seen you before?"

"Well, and to answer your questions in order Ms. Grant." Things were starting to feel a little more natural, "Not exactly. I've interned for some companies, not anything as big as CatCo, of course." It was another lie, but fabulously and effortlessly pulled off, "and I didn't choose to come to work for you. The job was open and I have applied. I hope you find me a worthy candidate, of course. And no, we've never met before."

"You've got guts to pull off the truth," Cat smirked, "The job is open of course, but it may not suit you. There has to be a reason, beyond a simple application, to choose applying for my PA."

"With respect, Ms. Grant, but you're a powerful woman, you know what you want and you get it, from what I understand. That's an admirable quality any young woman, such as myself, would want to obtain," Kara tried. It was strangely fun playing with Cat in this way, knowing the woman in a way Kara shouldn't thanks to both Iris' suggestions and her own memories.

"That's the answer I was looking for," Cat leaned back in her seat, a small smirk on her face. "That's all very well though, but can you PA for me? There are many long nights, phone calls, emails, and hand written letters. I would ask you to deal with clients for me, as well as organise events for companies such as Lord Enterprises and the Daily Planet. I like to hold regular galas for charities too, the first of which will be coming up this month. Eileen has started, but it's not quite her speciality."

"I could show you my resume…" Kara started, about to reach into her small handbag for the sheet of paper she and Jesse had fabricated with the help of Cisco, but stopped, "but something tells me you wouldn't care about my past. I can do this, Ms. Grant. I may not have dealt with the scale of clientele CatCo deals with, but I can adapt." She remembered, as in some sort of television flashback, her other life, the job interview Kara Danvers had had with Cat Grant, using her powers to cheat her way into the job and something told her not to do it that way this time; Cat was powerful, yes, but she was also a mentor and hid a strong, motherly, caring side she didn't let cameras or interviews catch – if she was anything like that Earth-3 Cat, anyway.

"If you can leave at the end of your first day without a tear to be seen, then you may prove worthy. I'll need to think this over, Miss Wells. If you have the job, you'll know by Friday and start a probationary period of one week followed by a month temporary contract. Should you survive the first week and stay beyond that first month, we shall review your future; maybe a one-year contract depending on your abilities. Please leave me your resume and contact details so I can let you know either way." Cat smirked at the girl as Kara finally did pull out the document, with contact details, and handed it to Ms. Grant.

Kara stood, noticing the interview was over as Cat momentarily glanced over the forged documents. "Err, Ms. Grant?" she tried.

"Uh huh?" Cat didn't remove her eyes from the piece of paper.

"I admire what you're doing with the superheroes of this city. Before your arrival the Flash was met with quite a backlash of both media support and hate. You seem to be in control of how he, and these new ones, are covered. I admire that."

Cat looked up at Kara with a small smile now. "Thank you. I named Power Girl, I keep the Flash in check; if you haven't already read the latest article in my newspaper, and online of course, it gives more insight into them and something else, rather special. Good day, Karen."

-PowerFlash-

"'The Superheroes of Central City'" Jesse sat in the new rec room of STAR labs – it wasn't a very big space, having been an old disused lab itself that Jesse had repurposed into living quarters when ARGUS had removed the equipment for her, and since she didn't have an actual home or house on this Earth, it was better than nothing. She even had a little TV tuned in, but not on at the moment.

She was reading aloud the article in the CatCo paper to Caitlin, who was curled up on a recliner opposite her. The day had been a little lazy since Kara had gone off to interview at CatCo itself, and Cisco and Harry had Barry covered while he looked into some strange meta activity, so both girls had decided to take their minds off things by doing a final set up of the rec room and now sat for a rest.

Jesse was speed-reading, but slowed herself down enough to verbalise some of the lines that struck out to her, such as "The Flash's heroics have saved Central for more than two years now" and "CatCo named Power Girl as such for her power and femininity" – it was a fun read though. Silver and Quick were barely in it, Cat wanting to do a big reveal expo piece when they were eventually ousted, and since there weren't any pictures of Jesse and Wally in their outfits anyway, focusing the article more on Barry and Kara worked in favour, especially when using images from Power Girl and the Flash's fight against Maxima to give the article it's edge.

"You'd think Cat Grant thought herself the queen of world, the way she writes." Caitlin yawned as Jesse reached a quiet moment.

"Oh she does. It's very rare to get her to write an actual article – well, that's what she told us when we did the spontaneous interview anyway," Jesse stated. "From what Kara said of Earth-3's Cat, this one is practically the same. Makes you wonder if some people are unchangeable even on other worlds."

"I wonder how Kara's getting on?" Caitlin muttered as conversation switched to Kara. "I wish she'd taken her suit with her, so I could monitor her vitals and know she's safe."

"You mean spy on her and see how the interview goes?" Jesse teased with a laugh.

"That too," Caitlin stated, too tired to argue. "I mean she's really only a few months old even with borrowed memories. It seems she got robbed of a childhood and forced right into adulthood."

"She's happy enough though, even without the sort of childhood you or I have experienced" Jesse vocalised.

"Even so…" Caitlin lazily argued.

"What's up with you and Ray?" Jesse suddenly asked, changing the topic from her sister, not sure where the conversation was headed anyway and waking Caitlin straight up.

"What do you mean?" she was defensive as she rubbed her eyes, clearly alert now.

"Well, you're pretty much an item, I just wanted to know how far you'd gone," Jesse asked, before elaborating. "I don't get much in the way of gossip these days, with just Team Flash for company, so I'd like to know, is all… If it helps, Wally and I got to second base last night." She gave Caitlin a little wink.

"If we're using that terminology, I'll just say we've done a home run a few times, okay." Caitlin stated quickly, unable to keep the small smirk off her face nonetheless.

"Oh yeah? Proud of you, girl," Jesse did a little solo high five but stopped when her eyes met the doorway. "Kara?" She jumped up.

"Why are you two talking about sport?" Kara asked, always the innocent as she looked between Caitlin and her sister.

"It's nothing. Just boy talk." This was true enough even though it seemed to confuse Kara. "So how did it go? Did you get the job?"

"Possibly," Kara moved around to the spare seat and perched on the edge. "I don't know. I think so. She was on about contracts and from my memories of the other Kara's experiences with Cat, that can only mean good things, right?"

"Of course," Caitlin stated. "You have the experience with Cat that even she doesn't know about it. You'll ace this, I bet." She gave Kara reassuring smile.

"You've got this sis. Can't wait to get first-hand gossip from Cat Grant herself. Screw confidentiality, okay?" Jesse joked, they having already discussed job issues before, of course. Kara smirked at her sister.

"Where's Barry?" Kara suddenly asked, curious. "He was supposed to have the day off so we could shop for work outfits."

"Oh, there was a meta alert, he went to investigate while you were with Cat," Caitlin informed her.

"Right. I'll check in, see where he's up to." Kara stood, and moved toward the door.

"Hey, what position have you and Barry got to?" Jesse couldn't help but ask her sister, even though she was sure the two hadn't even kissed yet.

"Position?" Kara looked back to Jesse, confused.

"You know, sports terms, double entendres…" Jesse knew Kara enough now to know her innocent mind wouldn't have a clue what she meant.

"Neither of us play sports," Kara responded, completely confused as she glanced to Caitlin, who kept a straight face as she innocently shrugged at Kara who momentarily glanced worriedly at Jesse before leaving the room.

Caitlin and Jesse glanced at each other before bursting into laughter. "Seems borrowed memories don't lead to knowing everything. Or Kara of Earth-3 was just as innocent."

Jesse smirked as she rolled her eyes. "I think me and you need to give her some girl talk, eventually."

-PowerFlash-

The man in question was currently surveying the city, almost Arrow-style as he looked out for anything unusual, specifically in the plant-life variety.

They had gotten the alert earlier this morning – two cops had gone AWOL reporting in from a possible murder, only to be discovered a few minutes ago strangled to death, along with the unknown victim, by thick, resistant vines. Plants didn't do this type of growth and so quickly – they hadn't even been able to release the cops from their entrapment, so forensic analysis had to wait until they found a way to cut the growths, or at least stop them from growing – the cops and unknown victim were still being consumed by the plant life.

"There's no detection on anything anomalous in the plant kingdom of Central," Cisco spoke in Barry's earpiece. "Harry's looking into ways and means, but even he never encountered that sort of meta on his world."

"It's an impossibility," Harry's voice suddenly took over Cisco's, "the merging of plant and human biology has to be how this meta works, but with so many missing clues and no way to detect them…"

"Don't worry guys, I can zip about and look the old fashion… oh, hang on…" He had noticed something. "Can you look into sector seven, localised near the Lord Enterprises building?"

"What is it?" Barry could hear Cisco tapping away, looking into the location.

"I think we have some visitors…" Barry ran, speeding down the building and toward the area he'd spotted the strange movement, moving up the side of Lord Enterprise's twelve-storey building to come to a stop just behind two strangely dressed people. One, he actually recognised in a red outfit, supporting a bow and arrow, but the other he didn't. His outfit – it was definitely a 'he' – was a mishmash of blacks and blue, but it was Speedy who turned around to face the speedster first.

"I wondered how long it would be before we got your attention." She couldn't help but grin as Barry smiled lightly back at her.

"What are you doing here? Who's this?" Barry asked a little defensively.

"Tracking down a meta this guy lost," Thea Queen explained, glancing to her cohort, "and this is Nightwing."

"Nightwing?" The voice in Barry's ear almost screamed, Barry wincing as Cisco apologised. " _The_ Nightwing?!" Cisco now insisted, Barry ignoring him.

"A meta you lost?" Barry addressed the pair. "This plant-meta?"

"She's called Poison Ivy," Nightwing spoke up, his voice deep and masculine, "and she's an escapee; I've been tracking her down for some time now. I believe she thinks Central City would be a safe haven for her, being the meta-human centre of the world, apparently."

"She's not from Central?" Barry couldn't help but ask, to a nod from Nightwing. "I thought metas only originated from here?"

"Then you are wrong and naive, Flash." Nightwing stated simply. "Nevertheless, since I have lost track of her, perhaps working with your companions back at your base would be more efficient, I can help them track her."

"Oh, now he comes around to the idea," Thea moaned rolling her eyes. "The moment he said Ivy was a meta I suggested you guys, but no, he had to track her down on his lonesome."

"Didn't stop you joining me, did it?" Nightwing retorted, although a little softly as Barry could swear he winked at her.

"How did you… Speedy?" Barry asked, a little lost now.

"He tracked Ivy to Star; I'm no longer part of Team Arrow now. Olly's found some new recruits, became mayor, you know the story… so anyway, I thought I'd join Nightwing on his search for a plant woman. Are we going to stand on a roof all day or are you going to introduce us to Power Girl and show Dick around STAR Lab?"

"Err… Dick?" Barry asked, glancing to Nightwing then back to Thea who smirked. "Right. Yeah. Well, you know the way by now…" Completely lost as to what was going on, Barry turned on his heel and ran, heading back to STAR while Cisco obviously, and amusingly, geeked out in his ear.

-PowerFlash-

"Nightwing's history goes back way further than Arrow's" was the first thing Cisco informed Barry as he noticed Kara now waiting in the labs for him too; he wanted to ask her how her interview had gone but didn't have the chance as Cisco remained in Barry's immediate vision, explaining what he knew of Nightwing before the aforementioned vigilante got to the labs himself.

"He first turned up in Blüdhaven about ten years ago claiming to investigate a criminal called Black Mask, but ended up turning the police force around for being so corrupt. He was vicious but strangely kind in his role, a lot like Arrow, but completely different. He also had a sidekick for a time but not much came of them. Records report that his vigilante history goes all the way back to childhood, and if Thea's right in his first name I can't believe he may in fact be Dick Grayson, part of the Flying Graysons, murdered by –"

"I think that's enough history lessons, Mr. Ramone," Harry suddenly cut in as Nightwing himself stood in the doorway to the Cortex, observing the place and scowling at Cisco; Thea stood beside him, her hood already down as she grinned at everyone.

On closer inspection, Nightwing's outfit greatly resembled Barry's, being somewhat formfitting and adaptable, but he wore no head mask and had intricate armour attached to the lower and upper parts of the costume. The symbol on his chest was larger and blue while the outfit itself was completely black. He did wear a mask over his eyes though, which remained in place and looked somewhat daunting, spiking off down his cheeks and up to his forehead to make an impressive, almost bird-like shadow; he didn't seem impressed or nearly as happy as Thea, who was already hugging Cisco – although probably to shut him up more than anything.

"So, was that bio correct?" Barry asked as Kara remained silent behind him, trying to keep up.

"For the most part," Nightwing responded. "And I am Dick Grayson, and as Nightwing I have maintained vigilance over Blüdhaven – until recently, obviously."

"Poison Ivy?" Harry now asked.

"Yes. Escaped Arkham Asylum last week. I tracked her down to Star City first and came across Speedy here; she's been by my side since then," Nightwing informed the group. "But enough of my personal life, I'm only here to use your expertise in tracking down Ms. Ivy."

"Never heard of 'we scratch your back, you scratch ours'?" Kara asked now, a little despondent with the attitude the vigilante was exerting.

"Yes. I know this is a favour and I guessed it doesn't come free of charge," Dick reasoned, running a hand now into his slightly too-long black locks. "But I'll be willing to help you guys with something in the future if you can help me now." His attention turned from the suspicious Kara back to Cisco.

"No problem, man," Cisco breathed as he took a seat back down, aware of the hostility suddenly evident in the room. "Identifying features? What exactly are her powers? How was she made?"

Dick moved over to Cisco now as Barry looked worriedly to Kara; Thea didn't look very impressed with her latest associate's attitude, so moved over to the superhero pair. "I'm sorry, Dick can be…"

"A dick?" Kara supplemented.

"Driven," Thea corrected. "It's been his goal since he left Blüdhaven to get Poison Ivy and the further away she gets, the more… driven he becomes."

"Why are you with him anyway? Why not part of Team Arrow back in Star?" Barry asked; the three all talking under their breath.

"We're dating," Thea stated, quite abruptly. "We connected, we hooked up and we're dating. Like I said, Olly and Felicity have a new team in Star with added mayoral duties for Olly, and when I realised Speedy wasn't quite done yet I jumped at the chance to travel with him across America to find his target. I'm helpful and I think more clearly than him; he made a lot more mistakes before I joined him."

"Don't let your personal emotions cloud your judgement though," Kara stated, a little sharply at this.

"Hark who's talking," Thea snapped back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kara rounded on Thea now.

"Ladies… please," Barry interrupted. "I thought out of everyone from Olly's family of vigilantes, you two would get on the most."

"I'm sorry," Thea and Kara said instantly.

"I guess I'm on edge," Kara supplied; "New people. Rude people." She glanced over to Dick who was leaning over Cisco now before turning her attention to Thea. "I'm sorry."

"Who exactly are you?" Thea added suddenly. "I know of Power Girl – everyone knows of Power Girl – but you're at an unfair advantage if you know both my identities and I only know one of yours."

"Superhero secrets," Barry muttered to Thea with a wink. "She's Kara Wells, daughter of Earth-2's Harrison Wells."

"Adopted daughter and an alien – sort of. Basically a clone of an alien. It's complicated," Kara added, "thus the superpowers…"

"Oh." Thea blinked at this, a little confused. "Glad I now know. Right." She wasn't too sure where to go from there, so Barry took over.

"Poison Ivy. What about her? Why is Dick so keen on catching her? How did she get her powers?" These were all questions Barry was dying to get answered.

"I only know what Dick's told me, but her origins aren't quite known – they usually centre around a scientist or her college professor, a Doctor Woodrue either injecting her with venom or throwing her into her own botanist work, but what I do know is that she has advanced powers to control plants; make them do her own bidding and create ones from herself. She was locked up for a long while until recently of course, and she's been known to seduce men through plant pheromones, so you'd better watch yourself Allen. After escaping Arkham though, she made her way to Blüdhaven where Dick first found out of her escape and he's been hunting her down since…" Thea sighed, taking a breath after her long-winded explanation.

"Hunting her down to catch her or… something else?" Kara added, a little shrewdly.

"What do you mean?" Thea asked.

"Well, she seduces men. She and Dick have obviously met. He's perusing her come hell or high water… see the dots?" Kara voiced.

"I don't think he tracking her 'cos she seduced him," Thea reasoned, "besides, I've already thought of that. Olly even tested that out with some Lian Yu herbs… seems he's clean of Ivy's pheromones."

"Well, keep that in mind for when they do eventually clash," Kara stated. "Do you guys need Team Flash or is Team… Nightwing good enough?"

"Super-speed and Power Girl may be of help, but maybe as back up until Dick realises he can't do everything…" Thea smiled to Kara now, both women knowing what she meant – Dick's masculine pride would get in the way first.

"We have a hit," Nightwing spoke up, getting the other three's attention. "Should have guessed she'd be at the local gardens. Central City Botany Centre – three massive greenhouses, perfect for harbouring a plant-based lifeform undetected; well, nearly undetected."

"Need our help?" Barry offered, knowing Thea's word, but testing the vigilante nonetheless.

"Nah, I got it. Well, Thea and I have. Come on Speedy." With one last look to Thea, he left the Cortex. Barry was by Thea's side before she could move however and placed a coms earpiece in her hand.

"For when you need us," he whispered in her ear, she nodding resolutely before following her boyfriend out of the facility.

"Wasn't he a blast of sunshine…!" Jesse commented, standing by the doorway having been watching the whole thing since Kara had left the rec room.

"I like Thea though," Kara stated to her sister, glancing to Barry at this.

"Thea's cool. Just Dick… he's a dick, let's be honest," Barry stated.

"He's just getting on with his work," Cisco reasoned, "if you took the time –"

"Just because you think the sun shines from his ass, doesn't mean the rest of us should," Jesse interrupted. Cisco scowled, but said no more.

-PowerFlash-

"I suppose now would be a bad time to mention I get hay fever?" Thea joked in a hoarse whisper as she and Nightwing entered the large greenhouse, adding a little too lightly: "And this outfit is leather. Not very good in the heat which is what –"

"Speedy!" Nightwing growled for quiet; Thea shut up, letting her partner take the lead while trying to ignore the argument happening only in her ear, back in STAR Labs – Jesse and Cisco were having a full-blown row about Dick, while it seemed that Kara, Barry and Harrison-2 were trying to listen in as to what was going on with their field operatives. It felt almost homely, reflecting back on the arguments Olly and Felicity had while they had taken the field.

"Did Cisco isolate where Ivy would be?" Thea asked Nightwing, knowing that he and Cisco had found Ivy to be in this place, but not knowing how specific the location was.

"Nope, just this place," Dick replied, "Keep your eyes peeled. If they're not puffy." He tried to joke but fail miserably and knew it from the look on Thea's face. "Just keep your eyes open."

Thea rolled her non-puffy eyes and moved on quietly, trying to ignore the heat beating down on her from all angles, wishing she were in something cooler now for this potential show down. It was ironic considering that in all the time she'd watched over Starling, and then Star, it had been night and cool, now she was on a real mission it was in broad daylight, inside a greenhouse, and she was still wearing the hot leathers.

The things she did for justice. And Nightwing.

"Maybe I should look into getting a new costume," Thea mumbled to herself, loud enough though that everyone in the lab could hear them.

"Cisco could get on that" she nearly jumped when Kara talked directly to her, and ignored her as she continued to look around, not letting Dick in on her connection back to Team Flash at the moment.

Considering most of the plants in this place were shades of green, blue and even black, finding the redhead that was Poison Ivy was slightly easier than possible – she was near the back, standing over something that neither Dick, nor Thea could believe.

Ivy herself was humanoid in all sense of the word: tall, thin, in a dress of ivy leaves with long flowing red hair reaching her lower back, but what she stood over was anything but humanoid. From Thea's perspective it was like looking at a six-foot Treebeard, from that Lord of the Rings franchise, but the head was anything but tree-like. Had someone cut off a man's head and integrated it with that of a tree-like form? It was almost sickly.

Neither had noticed the two vigilantes creeping up on them as Ivy paced about the humanoid figure, she was talking and it was all Thea could do not to hit Dick for breathing a little too loud so as to hear what Ivy was saying…

"…ages to find you! You have no idea, _Professor_ how long I've waited for this revenge. Your experiments on me may have caused my insanity, but I'm glad it disfigured you beyond recognition."

"I may deserve your revenge," the thing muttered, crouching down before Ivy as he looked up to her. "But can you not see what perfection we are? Perfected from the very Earth itself –"

"I despise that the Earth chose you as some form of representative! I am the only mouthpiece she needs. The true Mother Nature."

"You were a mistake! That role was always going to be mine!" As he spoke, plants around him moves, swaying to his words as Ivy braced herself, lifting her arms.

"The mistake was yours to try and make yourself perfection, like me!" Ivy snarled as the tree behind her shot forward, growing at exponential speed toward the male, wrapping what could only be described as his arms while the grass below Ivy's feet shot up, wrapping around her legs, sticking her to the spot.

"It seems like you're both stuck," Nightwing called up, both individuals turning toward him.

"Nightwing!" Ivy snarled. "Tracked me all the way to Central City?" As she spoke, the grass grew further up her body, almost cocooning her from the waist down.

"I didn't know you had co-conspirators though." He moved quickly, just as ivy itself shot up from the ground, he avoiding it with skill.

"He's nothing but a coward; I wouldn't have him if the Earth herself depended on our collaboration!" Ivy growled, the grass cocoon breaking with ease as she stepped from it toward Nightwing – the other plant being used this opportunity to strike though, roots shooting up around both vigilante and villainess, thick oak trees encasing both in seconds.

"NO!" Thea cried as Dick vanished beneath the bark and the male plant stood to his full height, looking surprised to see Thea there; she having been half-concealed before this moment.

"Who are you?" He boomed to her, suddenly growing in height, able to control his very plant-based body with ease.

"Not until you answer that question yourself!" She had bow and arrow pointed at the thing already, unsure where to strike but believing the flesh of the face the softest part, and thus the weakest.

"I am the Earth itself, the very essence of plants and life, the only thing standing in the way of your complete destruction, human." The thing growled down at her. "But since you like to name things so, you can call me Floronic – and no arrow will pierce me, not even the last remnants of my human vestiges."

There was a crash as glass shards suddenly surrounded the pair, both looking up to see a woman in white come speeding down, a jet of red light shooting from her eyes as she targeted Floronic, his very bark-like skin catching fire as he screamed in pain. At that same moment something very fast appeared from nowhere, a red streak that pummelled itself in Floronic, sending his burning body flying into one of the metal posts that made up the greenhouse. It bent and the glass surrounding cracked and shattered in the sudden force.

The cavalry had arrived.

"We told you to call for us," Barry stated as he sped to Thea's side, rubbing the arm he'd used to punch Floronic. "You didn't tell us we had two plants to deal with."

Kara landed next to Floronic, who was already using the plant-life around him to stand, no longer on fire as he rose his arm-like appendages; the canopy of cover the larger trees made grew, plunging the three into darkness just as the tree containing Ivy split in two; the woman stepping from it and looking flustered, glancing to the new arrivals before turning her attention to Floronic.

"He is mine," she whispered in anger; Floronic paused as he glared to her, but already she had moved, speeding toward him as if she were flying. He didn't have the reaction-time as a giant leaf propelled Ivy to the air and she changed momentum, hitting the thing at full-force and throwing him from the greenhouse.

Thea didn't even wait to act herself, sprinting after the couple as Barry hesitated, glancing toward Kara, deciding what best to do at the spur of the moment – this wasn't their fight, and as much of a danger Ivy and this Floronic was, they didn't seem to pose much of a threat on the public unless they turned a city into a forest… and that hadn't happened yet, so should it in the future? Kara nevertheless nodded, indicating that Barry should go after Thea and Ivy, so he smirked as he turned and ran, leaving Kara with the tree that contained Nightwing.

He found Thea surprising far off, her athletic skills obviously come in handy as she stood by one of the rivers that lead into the bay Barry had so often ran across – it proved handy for the Botanical Industries of course, and he paused. "What happened? Where did they go?"

"Across the water," she stated, a little despondent. "I don't… Can you chase them? You can run on water, perhaps you can find them?"

"I think it's better for your dick boyfriend to stop Ivy and her creator, not me," Barry decided with a sigh, looking down the direction of the river flow. He could run across it, chase the two and drag them back to Nightwing… but they could easily trap him in a tree like Dick was at the moment, or contain his legs like Floronic did to Ivy so he couldn't break free.

Thea sighed too now. "I guess Central was just a pit-stop in the end. And he's not a dick, just misunderstood."

"Aren't they all?" Barry teased; "Come on, we'll see if Nightwing can be released from his wooden cage…" he picked up Thea, who didn't complain as they raced back to the greenhouse to find Kara pacing the new oak.

"He's alive," Barry dropped Thea on her feet as Kara elaborated: "he's sleeping, or at least in stasis beneath the bark…"

"How can you…?" Thea asked.

"X-ray vision," Barry answered. "She can see through things us mere mortals can't. Well besides lead."

"Your weakness is lead?" Thea asked amused at that.

"No, I just can't see through it," Kara stated as she scowled playfully at Barry for a moment before turning back to the tree and hitting it with full force. Bark went flying, but it wasn't enough, so she punched it again. On the third strike she used her bare hands to tear the plant apart and free the man within before laying him on the ground.

Thea dropped to her knees before him and then suddenly slapped him – the sound echoing throughout the cavernous greenhouse as Nightwing's eyes flew open. "Did we win?" he asked, in shock.

-PowerFlash-

"If you'd had done your research, Grayson, you would have realised that Ivy hadn't escaped Arkham Asylum – technically. She was let free," Harry stated to a disorientated Nightwing back at STAR Labs; he sitting with Thea behind him, her hands on his shoulders while Barry and Kara paced, listening to the explanation Harry had managed to research. Jesse wasn't in the Cortex anymore while Cisco remained surprisingly quiet. "The conditions of her escape wasn't of her own making; she was released by this Floronic-being, but it seems she didn't want it, whatever he was offering to break her out."

"Meaning?" Dick asked quietly. Thea had insisted they return to STAR Labs before they continued their pursuit of these two metas, and as Dick had finally decided to contact someone for help now there was more than Ivy to detain, he could use the break STAR Labs offered him; plus, this Doctor Wells person had done some invaluable research into Ivy and Floronic that Dick really neglected to find out to start with.

"Well, running a facial recognition software off of a known database of the citizens of this county, Floronic is in fact Doctor Jason Woodrue; the man responsible for Ivy's current condition. It's reason enough to believe she wanted nothing to do with him, so we can only hypothesis that he originally wanted her to be part of whatever plan he had concocted, but she obviously didn't want anything to do with it. A clash of personalities, to say the least."

"Why did it take so long for her to find him?" Dick asked now, still trying to get his head around what had happened while he'd been tree-feed. He had to continue the pursuit, no matter what 'Team Flash' said – Ivy needed to be put away, and this Floronic too now.

"Presumably she did immediately. Like I said, I can only theorise, but it's more than likely he was waiting for her when he freed her; she may have been more than a match for him so he fled and she pursued, trying to stop him. You just happened to not see the starting point and only the object straight ahead." Harry concluded with a sigh.

"Blind only to your target" Thea commented. "If I didn't like you so much I'd say you were like my brother."

"Well, that's kind of gross," Jesse had turned up again, a small smirk as ever on her face as she looked to Thea, "if I were dating my brother…"

"He's not my brother," Thea sighed, "only like him in one aspect. He doesn't keep secrets from me at least. Well, not that many anyway." She gave Dick a slight squeeze on his shoulder.

"Well, your life," Jesse gave Thea a wink as Dick suddenly stood.

"Thank you, Doctor Wells" he nodded to Harry before glancing to Cisco now. "Mr. Ramone, a word."

He moved over to Cisco, pulling him away from the computer banks so as to speak in silence, aware however that Jesse was watching them with eyes narrowed. "Thanks for the help, it was actually invaluable – I would never have found Ivy if it wasn't for you… Of course, now she could be anywhere on the open ocean…"

"Harry can find her again for you!" Cisco suddenly pleaded. "It's really easy – all you need is a special algorithm and to hack a few satellites…"

"I've kind of already done that. A friend of mine owed me a favour; I contacted him earlier and he's also agreed to help me and Speedy now. Making us a threesome. We're meeting him outside the city limits shortly. But you guys are pretty amazing, though. Look, I want you to take this," he produced a small metallic thing, similar in design to his eye mask. "If you need me, whenever and for whatever reason, just give me a call. Time for me to scratch your back, like Kara said."

"Thanks man," Cisco grinned in spite of himself, taking the communication's device. "Word of advice though," Cisco suddenly said, removing his eyes from the small bit of technology. "Keep your eyes open, for Thea, I mean. If you want to keep her, holding back secrets is the worst thing you can do. Keep her at arm's distance if you want, but don't leave her in the dark. She has a bad history of that happening."

"Of course." Dick smiled.

"Oh, and sorry for the whole history lesson earlier… I just… well, you're you, aren't you?"

"My reputation does have the knack to precede me," Dick smirked, patting Cisco on the shoulder before turning back to the room and marching forward, addressing his partner in crime who was deep in animated conversation with Jesse: "Thea, time we leave."

"Sir!" Thea mocked, saluting Nightwing as Jesse saluted too. Barry and Dick groaned but Kara and Cisco couldn't help but smirk; Cisco in spite of his argument with Jesse earlier. With a nod to her latest friends, Thea followed Dick out of the Cortex, leaving a somewhat awkward silence in their wake.

-PowerFlash-

"'Botany Centre Battle – Blüdhaven Vigilante Seeks Superhero Help'," Cat quoted to the room of journalists gathered in her office; Iris stood at the back observing. "I want all research into what happened on my desk within one hour, miss the deadline and you're fired. We're the first to cover this and we must maintain deadlines." Many nodded, some groaned but all complied as they filed out of the room, heading back to their computers or to take to the streets and to head to the greenhouses themselves. Iris remained alone with Cat in seconds.

"Oh, I love sending the mass running. Keep their jobs on the line, that's the key, Eileen." Cat stated, sitting at her desk and staring at the other woman. "I wonder what Nightwing was doing so far from home, and why that Star City vigilante was with him too…?"

"Speedy," Iris supplied.

"Terrible name. Should be… The Red Arrow? Hmm, if Star can have The Green Arrow, maybe colour-coordinating their Arrows is an easier way. Makes my work a little finer, if a bit dull," Cat theorised.

"I think she'll come at with you an arrow if you try to change her name," Iris risked, trying not to laugh at the mental image of Thea chasing Cat Grant with her weapon.

"Very well," Cat said, rolling her eyes. "Speedy it is."

"About your PA…" Iris suddenly stated, wanting to know the answer. Cat had said after her interview with Kara that morning that 'Karen' had seemed a worthy candidate – in fact, the only candidate in the long list that had seemed acceptable. The interview had gone really well in Cat's eye too.

"Yes. Harold Wells' daughter did prove her worth." Cat stated, now absently chewing the bottom of her pen in thought. "I know I said to wait for the end of the day, but let's face it she is the only one for the job. Call her up in the morning, she'll start Monday."

Iris couldn't help but grin at this, nodding to Cat who wasn't actually looking at her now as she seemed in a world of her own. She left the office to take a seat at her desk. In an hour she would have external information about Thea and Nightwing's appearance in Central, but she had an hour herself to get inside-information from Barry, Kara and even Cisco, and with good news like Kara's job, today's article was to be better than others.

Finally, someone to take Cat Grant from Iris' already busy life.

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _As you know, Detective West," Singh started formally, "in half an hour, Mr. Lord will be revealing his new technology…"_

" _If I may interrupt?" Lord's voice was as smug as his appearance. Singh gave the man a scowl, but didn't say anymore, indicating for Lord to take the floor. "The new prototype to which I have brought to this place is but the first in a long line of objects that will help keep the public safe. It is not a weapon but nor is it technology, or at least, technology as you currently know it. I only intend to integrate them into your force, most particularly your meta-human department –"_

" _I am still uncomfortable with this," Diana Prince spoke up, a slight accent to her voice and Lord actually rolled his eyes. "Weapon or not, meta-humans are humans too. They cannot always control what they are and to be rounded up by this technology…"_

" _No-one will be rounded up, Ms. Prince." Maxwell sighed, "I was just saying it would help, Detective West and his colleagues in their lives as meta-human police."_

* * *

Post-chapter Note: As per usual, thank you everyone for the reviews – I get about six on average per chapter, which doesn't seem like much, but is highly appreciated nonetheless. Nevertheless, I need to address an issue Brittana pulled up, most specifically regarding Donna Nance being Laurel's Earth-2 doppelgänger. I think since Laurel was officially dead by the time the Black Siren appeared on the show (Arrow and Flash did not match up week-for-week after the Christmas break though, so it's my approximation), no-one outside of Teams Arrow and Flash made the connection between Black Siren and Black Canary. My clone Laurel may bring in a complication for this, but unless that comes to light, Donna will never be confused with Laurel.


	11. Category Five

Before I get started on the episode, I want to take a moment to inform everyone to the future of this story. As you may or may not be aware, episode 12 marks the mid-season point as I see it (and I have a cracker of an episode written for that), but, like all mid-seasons, I plan on taking a small break after – manly to help me build up my backlog of stories. So expect a wait of around two weeks after episode 12 for the 13th episode to come along; also, for reasons beyond my control, episode 12 itself is to be posted this Friday too (more info on the return date will be put at the bottom of that episode). So double Power Girl this week. Exciting times.

Now, dedication time. Guest reviewer, Mia, I hope this has more doses of our titular characters than the last few episodes! And wow that got long… On with the chapter, though. Sigma out!

Episode Eleven – Category Five

"Karen!" Cat Grant called to her new assistant. It was Monday, Kara's first day on the job and already the CatCo boss had a million things she wanted Kara to do, including this latest assignment – it was lucky Kara had her other life experience to help her deal with the sudden influx of information in this life.

"Maxwell Lord is introducing something that will revolutionise the police force later, apparently, and I'd like you to assist Eileen in getting the scoop – two CatCo representatives would be more efficient than one. You will take photos too as I've yet to hire on a competent photographer." All this time Cat didn't look at Kara and when she was done, finishing her analysis of an article related to sports, did she look up to see Kara still lingering. "Well? Get to it!"

"Yes. Sorry, Ms. Grant." Kara retreated from the office, still not entirely used to this type of life – Kara Danvers' memories or not; nevertheless, she moved over to Iris who looked up from her desk to smile politely at Kara. "I'm tagging along." Kara stated as she leaned against the desk.

"I heard. It'll be cool though. Barry will be there so you can see him," Iris said.

"And so will Julian?" Kara asked innocently.

"I don't see why he would be. It's not like they're introducing a corpse for him to look over," Iris mused a little despondently.

"Oh. What are they revealing anyway? Cat – I mean, Ms. Grant – just said it was something revolutionary… that could cover anything."

"Not sure." Iris mused thinking over what she knew so far. "I've heard that it's some kind of weapon, but who knows. Best not to speculate when in this business – speculation leads to bad press according to Ms. Grant, and that's the worst kind of press for this paper…"

"Well, whatever it is, I'm meant to take pictures." Kara stated, "so goodbye James Olsen. Who needs you anyway?"

"James Olsen?" Iris asked, not knowing about the Earth-3 CatCo photographer, or even Winn's half-brother.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Wrong life." Kara said with a small laugh as she forgot James Olsen wasn't part of this setup.

Iris rolled her eyes and resisted laughing. "I don't know how you keep your lives straight half the time. I couldn't do it if I was you." Iris made sure to whisper so no one could overhear them.

"I couldn't be me without them – that's the difference. Anyway, let me know when you're going to set out and I'll tag along, camera in tow." Kara smiled, about to head back to her desk opposite Iris'.

"Hey Kara," Iris suddenly called out, Kara turning to look at the West girl. "Thanks." She smiled and nodded toward Cat, the implications of her thankfulness evident as Kara chuckled. "I should have thought of you earlier" and Iris meant that; she didn't know why asking Kara to take the job hadn't occurred to her when she knew Kara Danvers was Cat Grant's assistant, and Kara had Danver's memories.

Settling back behind her desk, Kara however, added in final response: "No problem, 'Eileen'."

"Hey, let's not have that attitude, 'Karen'." Iris joked back with a smile and a laugh.

-PowerFlash-

Today was a big day.

That was what everyone at the CCPD had been told, and more especially so for Joe. It had been a busy fortnight in preparation for this too, and after the departure of Patty last year he had finally brought in two new recruits to the meta-human task force. He had actually been surprised that he had found people who wanted to work with meta-humans and were as good as the two he had gotten, but both Barbra Gordon and John Stewart had wanted to join and were really good – he had gotten two good people. Besides, it was important that the task force had more than one person representing, according to Singh, as Lord Enterprises' involvement in their future was pivotal with a well-versed meta-human task force.

Which was why he now stood in front of his two new recruits, waiting a little worriedly for Singh to finish his conversation with both Maxwell Lord, head of Lord Enterprises, and Diana Prince, the government representative for the Department of Meta-Human Affairs. Lord had some big plans for the CCPD and after so many years of Meta attacks, Joe had to wonder what exactly this technological advancement was that he was introducing.

"Detective," Singh entered the side room that Joe and his new recruits had been waiting in.

"Captain." Joe nodded, bowing slightly to the attractive olive-skinned woman accompanying his captain and the rather smug-looking gentleman whom accompanied Singh.

"As you know, Detective West," Singh started formally, "in half an hour, Mr. Lord will be revealing his new technology…"

"If I may interrupt?" Lord's voice was as smug as his appearance. Singh gave the man a look but didn't say anything more, letting him take the floor. "The new prototype to which I have brought to this place is but the first in a long line of objects that will help keep the public safe." Lord informed them. "It is not a weapon but nor is it technology, or at least, technology as you currently know it. I only intend to integrate them into your force, most particularly your meta-human department –"

"I am still uncomfortable with this," Diana Prince spoke up, a slight accent to her voice, and Lord actually rolled his eyes. "Weapon or not, meta-humans are humans too. They cannot always control what they are and to be rounded up by this technology…"

"No-one will be rounded up, Ms. Prince." Maxwell sighed, "I was just saying it would help, Detective West and his colleagues in their lives as meta-human police."

"I still don't like this. Too many things could go wrong. Besides the meta-human police here have the Flash and now Power Girl to help out. Seems they have been doing okay to me," Diana stated defiantly.

"Well, unless someone plans on putting them on the payroll here, I am sure they have a life and jobs of their own. You should not expect these _superheroes_ to always be there and maybe after this you won't need them anyway," Max said with an odd look on his face, and the way he vocalized superheroes was strange to Joe. The dislike for them was present to all in the room despite Max not actually saying it aloud. Flash and Power Girl had too much good press, especially lately, for Max to publically attack them.

Joe moved on, deciding to vocalised his next query to Max: "Will myself or my colleagues be able to see what this magical and controversial device is, or will we have to wait like everyone else? You've built quite a reputation for this thing, Mr. Lord."

"Max, please, formality doesn't mix with pleasant company," Max stated politely. "But sadly not. My people are bringing it in for the reveal, not a moment before – the first time its left my company will be today and as you may be aware, I feel rather protective of it."

"Secrets don't keep good company either" Diana spat out at Max, who smirked in reply.

"I'm sure you want a word with your Detective, Captain Singh, so why don't Diana and myself leave you four in peace?"

"Sure," Singh sighed, not sure what else to say as Diana Prince stormed from the room, Max smirking to himself but following nonetheless.

"Nice people," Joe stated, a little sarcastically as they were left in peace.

"Max has been killing me since he arrived; Diana is just easily irritated. Anyway, Joe, Gordon, Stewart," he addressed the three officers, "you will be front-and-centre at this reveal, so whatever Max has up his sleeve, be wary of it, okay? He's never been keen on meta-humans, so if this is to 'help make the public safe' as he puts it, it may be dangerous to them. We all know not all metas are bad people. Joe, I'll need you to say a few things after me. Something generic and appealing to the press, you know the sort of thing."

"Yes sir," Joe mused. "Is the whole precinct going to be there?"

"Along with half the press," Singh sighed. "Max does like to build a buzz. Good luck." He nodded to Joe's fellow officers before leaving the small room, the sound of Max and Diana's arguments clearly audible when the door opened.

"It's a weapon. Got to be," Gordon stated to Joe.

"Have to agree there, this is Maxwell Lord, after all." Stewart replied, arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, whatever it is, keep vigilant, okay detectives?" The pair nodded as Joe opened the door to let them leave before taking a moment to breathe himself. Barry had better be around – the Flash coming to their rescue was inevitable today…

-PowerFlash-

Kara had never been to the CCPD precinct before, not even as Power Girl, and she had to admit she was impressed – the foyer entrance was large and grand, and the balcony that covered three of the four walls above allowed for excellent visuals for those down below. The plan was open, but with glass walls separating offices; some still with their shutters down so as not to let the public see everything happening in the place – this was an official police station, after all.

The crowds of press that were gathered were in the main hall, the officers and workers lined offices and the balcony – Kara could see Barry and even Julian above, opposite herself and Iris and grinned at him – but across the hall and directly opposite them was something covered in a sheet, it had two guards on either side and Maxwell Lord, recognisable from her alternative life, stood off in animated conversation with a tanned woman she didn't recognise. The man gave her a chill and she wondered how much this Lord was like the one she knew.

Turning her attention to thing with the guard cartel, she hesitated to use her x-ray vision before looking through the sheet; it was doubly-covered as it was also contained in a crate of sorts and, when Iris leaned in to ask if she could see what was inside, Kara muttered back: "It's a person, or at least person-shaped. It's hard to tell, I think there's some sort of lead property to the crate it's in – I can't see it clearly."

"You can't see through lead?" Iris whispered back.

"Nope. Normally that doesn't bother me as elements of steel and aluminium, the more popular in construction, contain very little in lead so I can see through them easily…"

"And yet a box outdoes you," Iris muttered with a small smile, trying not to laugh, her notepad out as she was apparently writing something already. "Grab a 'before'' shot now, Kara. Also pictures of Lord during his inevitable speech and the object in question would be great for the paper."

"You're getting good at this," Kara smirked as she snapped a clear shot of the crate and sheet. Something didn't feel right though, like a niggling feeling in the back of her mind was restricting her from working at full capacity. Almost like Déjà vu but not quite...

"Welcome everybody!" Max had removed himself from the conversation with the woman and introduced himself to the crowds in one swift movement. "I'm Maxwell Lord, of Lord Enterprises, but you can all call me Max. I'm aware of the intrigue I've provoked ever since I announced the best way to revolutionise our police task force since the introductions of meta-humans in our world, so I shall go right to it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first in hopefully a long line of 'Lord Enterprises Sentient Protectors' – Project Tornado!"

As he announced the name, he threw off the sheet and the box unfurled at the same time. Kara had an instant sinking feeling as the red humanoid android the box contained brought back terrible flashbacks and she groaned. It was Red Tornado. The robot she had faced off in her alternative life that drained her of her powers.

"Kara! Photos!" Iris hadn't heard Kara's groan, or saw the look on her face as she tapped Kara on the shoulder to take a snap. Biting her lip, Kara obliged as she waited for Maxwell to continue, to introduce the thing that was going to cause havoc on the city, on the Flash and on Power Girl – Kara just knew it. Nothing good would come from this, and it had made up her mind. This Maxwell Lord was the same as the Maxwell Lord she knew from Earth-3.

"Project Tornado is a one of a kind, sentient piece of technology." Max went on, not helping Kara's feeling of dread. "It has the ability to work on its own, without an operator, to detect any meta-human and issue warnings should that meta be acting outside of the law. But have no fear, those meta-humans among us; for while it will detect what you may be, unless you are acting unlawfully, it won't be pressing charges." He let off a terribly staged laugh. "I intend to work closely with Detective West and his small number of meta-human police to make Central City, and the world itself, a much safer place."

A round of somewhat enthusiastic applause met this as Kara glanced worriedly up at Barry, who seemed to be sharing her concern. A meta-human himself, maybe _the_ meta-human himself, 'Project Tornado' would indeed cause the Flash harm as literally everything the Flash did could be considered 'unlawful'. As an alien though, Kara had to assume that it wouldn't detect her and she was only slightly glad for that.

It seemed Iris was thinking the same thoughts though as, on Max's request of questions, her hand was in the air before anyone's else's and her question was on the mark: "Iris West, CatCo Picture News," she introduced herself quickly. "What about those meta-humans who have to act outside the law to bring justice to those who intend to, or have completely violated these laws?"

"I assume you're talking about 'The Flash' and that Power Girl, Miss West," Max retorted. "CatCo Picture News? As in Cat Grant. Well, well, well, she did go far in life… but to answer your question, Project Tornado has been programmed to understand those who act alongside it, to understand the help it would be given by these so-called 'Superheroes' so it wouldn't act against them, unless they acted against it, of course."

"You mentioned sentience," Iris quickly replied back before any other reporter could get a word in. "You speak like it's a computer that makes decisions for itself. Why go to so much trouble to do what humans and other metas are already doing?"

"I want to keep myself in the game, Ms. West, I won't deny it. Whether that means making my own type of good guy is reasonable. Yes, Tornado has a form of intelligence akin to your smart phones; tracking troublemakers and issuing warning or even arrests should those troublemakers have the meta-human gene and be using that advantage to their own disadvantage."

"Why Tornado?" Kara couldn't help but ask, causing a few reporters to drop their hands, obviously one of their main questions. "What does it do?" She had to know. To be sure.

Max smirked though. "Thank you for the question, Ms…?"

"Wells. Kara Wells, of CatCo too." She introduced herself.

"Well, Miss Wells, I think an introduction is in order." He turned from the crowd to activate Project Tornado and Kara took the opportunity to tell Iris in a quick whisper a condensed summary of her previous encounter with a robot called 'Tornado', which she responded with a worried glance back to the thing and then to Kara again.

"I present," Max called out, "Project Tornado's powers – on a very low frequency, of course." He stepped aside as the robot man took a few movements forwards before it's lower portions began to spin, levitating it from the ground to create a very small pocket of air underneath it. A tornado.

This was met by another round of applause, which was cut short when Tornado shot forward, knocking an unsuspecting Max over and unconscious as the crowd gasped, Tornado scanning its audience before suddenly shooting up, its pocket of air turning into a very visible tornado before it shot from the precinct. Iris managed to grab a last-minute snap, as Kara had handed the camera over to her when Max turned the machine on, of its retreating tail wind before Joe and Singh moved forward to check over Max and a flurry of voices began to discuss what had just happened.

Kara looked up to Barry to find he was gone and knew what this meant – without even a 'bye' to Iris, she too ran from the place, taking quickly to the air as she arrived in STAR Labs to find Barry already there and waiting in his Flash outfit, along with Silver and Quick as Cisco sat at the computer bank with Caitlin by his side and a third tech-wiz on a laptop by their side – Winn.

Winn Schott Jnr had joined their escapades literally the previous day. It had started on a visit to the West household to discuss his brother with Wally and had somehow ended up at STAR Labs with Wally revealing himself to be a speedster to his singing friend. If Winn had wanted to put charges on Wally for beating his brother to a pulp the other week, that had been forgotten at his inclusion into 'Team Flash' and he had also managed to calm his brother down to get him not to press charges. It wasn't the first time Jim had been beaten up in a bar anyway. Kara was secretly glad Winn was part of the team now, Wally's wellbeing aside, Winn had been her best friend and confidant on Earth-3, after all, and even if he wasn't the same Winn, she wasn't the same Kara either, to be fair – he could prove a great help to the growing team of superheroes now.

"I can't get a hack into its system," Winn was saying as Cisco leaned in to check what he was doing.

"Okay Kara," Barry now stated, "what do you know? I could see it in your eyes."

"Project Tornado is Red Tornado," Kara stated, elaborating quickly as she hadn't told Barry of this feat before. "In my other self's early days as Supergirl, General Lane tried to unleash a robot called Red Tornado on me and it almost defeated me – the other me, obviously. The only way I could stop it was drain myself of all power and become human for a day. Well actually it was more than a day."

"Oh," Barry looked worriedly to Kara now. "Surely Project Tornado wouldn't be as bad?"

"No, it's worse." Alex had just walked in; joined by the same tanned woman Max had been talking to at the precinct.

"I know you!" Barry suddenly exclaimed, before cocking his head in confusion and backtracking. "Sorry. I thought…"

"Diana Prince, head of the Department for Meta-Human Affairs." She introduced herself as Alex moved over to the computers. "I'm well aware of the set up you have and the help you give Central City and the wider nation. Maxwell Lord is unconscious and Lord Enterprises are trying their best to remotely shut down Project Tornado, but I fear this will get out of hand."

"Like I was saying: this is worst, Ms. Prince." Alex indicated the monitors on the wall, showing footage of Red Tornado – no, Red Tornados – flying across the skies. There were three of them now.

"How?" Kara asked.

"They multiplied," Winn stated, looking a little overwhelmed by his laptop.

"I can see that. Where did it get the other two Tornados?" Kara asked, a bit annoyed.

"I think Max must have more than one in storage," Cisco took over. "Tornado immediately went to Lord Enterprises and… well…"

"We need to stop them. Three Tornados in Central could be devastating," Kara stated.

"But you used up all your powers trying to stop one before, how are we to stop all three?" Jesse now asked her sister with worry.

"Super-sonic punch!" Barry suddenly cried. "If we can get it to the ground, I've been working with Harry on ways to improve my speed with a super-sonic punch. It would shatter one of those Tornadoes to pieces. But it's complicated and takes training… if you tried you'd shatter your arm." Barry suddenly warned the two new speedsters.

"That's great – three Flashes and only one of us can stop these things," Wally remarked, grumpily.

"Kara," Alex suddenly stated, an idea coming to her head. "Remember in training, the Flare?"

"Yeah, but that would yield the same results against Tornado as what happened before. And it's dangerous, I can't possibly do that in the centre of the city," Kara reasoned.

"Then lure it to the wastelands, the same place that nuclear explosion took place a few years ago…?" Alex suggested.

"That was Firestorm unmerging for the first time," Caitlin pointed out, "and what is a Flare?"

"You'll see," Kara stated, a look of forced determination on her face now. "Okay, we lure all three Tornados to the wasteland and then… Barry, Wally, Jesse, you need to get these guys there; I'd need to prepare myself. Barry, when I'm done I'm going to be weak, like seriously weak. You need to bring me here and put me under UV lights, like when we first met."

"Of course, but –"

"You cannot go to Kara's aid instantly, let your eyes refocus and wait for my say-so," Alex suddenly instructed Barry. "The same for you two, especially you Jesse – Kara can do this, we all need to have faith in her."

"We do have faith!" Jesse stated, "If you told us –"

"If we told you what I'm going to do, you'll all hate the idea and try to think of something less dangerous," Kara pointed out matter-of-factly, "so you do this our way, or not at all. Bring the Tornadoes to the wastelands. I'll be waiting." She nodded to Alex, suddenly very much a leader as she left the room to get changed and fly out to their meeting point.

Barry and Jesse were lost for words, but Wally was determined to do his bit. "Well, let's tackle some robots" he stated with a determined look. Meanwhile, Diana watched the scene with a curious expression; not interrupting but not worried now either. Maybe she wouldn't need to reveal herself so quickly after all. Team Flash seemed to have this down to some sort of fine art now. This would be interesting to watch and Power Girl impressed her. She had a lot of potential from what Diana had seen so far.

-PowerFlash-

"Pursuing Tornado two," Barry called into his earpiece, the Red Tornado he had attracted was whipping up quite a storm in front of him, going at speeds even he couldn't match as it was all he could do to keep the thing in sight. They had designated the three Tornados with numbers so they were easy track for those in STAR Labs.

"Quick and Silver have Tornado three in pursuit; the original has already found Kara," Cisco was saying, causing Barry to groan.

"She needs a period of rest or something. Can she do what she needs to do while battling Tornado one?"

"She'll just have to cope," Alex spoke now.

"I can't get into their software at all," Winn announced, he still having tried everything since the get-go. "Max has way too many firewalls, encryption codes, locks – you name it."

"Not even I can break that!" Cisco added.

"Well if I can't break it of course you can't," Winn snapped.

"Not fighting you two," Barry heard Caitlin interrupt.

"Anyway, I suspect the Tornadoes intelligence is helping keep us out. Barry, Kara, guys, you're on your own here." Cisco finally said, regretfully.

"Tornado two's stopped," Barry added suddenly, running up to, and stopping, in front of the Tornado he was facing; it no longer in the air either as it looked to the Flash, cocking its head before its eyes glowed. Barry had only a fraction of a second to avoid the lasers that blew up the pavement where he'd been a microsecond beforehand. "Woah! Did you see that?!" He cried shocked.

"Laser vision. I think Max has been taking a leaf out of Kara's book," Caitlin informed the group. "You need to get out of its beam or find a way to phase through it Barry."

"How are Silver and Quick doing?" Barry asked, taking the opportunity to start running around his Tornado, it following him with just the upper-half of its body in a reverse of its tornado-creating effect.

"Considering this is their second outing; pretty good. They work well together – they've got their Tornado clear of the city; if this were a race then you're in last," Cisco commented, a playful tone to his voice now.

"They have the advantage – woah!" Tornado two had reversed its spin, its eyes lighting up as it did so, and Barry only just caught it in time not to be sliced in half; he'd ducked and rolled, catching his lightning without thinking and throwing it at the Tornado.

Tornado two went flying, crashing into the empty street behind it. "Well, that got its attention" Barry muttered sardonically, stepping backward as the robot shot upward again. "Time to run!"

The Flash streaked through the streets, the robot flying above him, lasers firing as the public ran for cover; Barry himself doing all he could to move people put of the line of fire as he ran. Finally, though, he got the Tornado clear of the city, heading straight for the wastelands where he could already see the other two Tornados in battle with Power Girl, Silver and Quick.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Barry suddenly called.

"About what?" Cisco asked; they had been quiet back in the labs for a few minutes now.

"This Flare thing of Kara's – it doesn't sound safe…" Barry vocalised.

"Damn it Allen this isn't your decision," Alex suddenly cut in. "These Tornados are dangerous; Max is in hospital with concussion, the CCPD need a new roof, half of Central's looks like it's been trampled on by giants and it's taken three speedsters and Kara to get three Tornados in a secluded location and none of you know the best way to stop them. Let Kara do this, okay? You can't be the hero all the time."

"I'm not trying to be the hero!" Barry protested, he otherwise having joined the others as Kara was in full-out laser battle with her Tornado and Wally and Jesse were playing cat-and-mouse with theirs; Wally momentarily distracted and sent flying by the air produced from Tornado three.

"Then round-up all three Tornados near Kara and get yourself and the others out of there!" Alex demanded in Barry's ear, he deciding not to complain at this as he glanced to Jesse who nodded, both now speeding in sudden circles, opposite one another and forcing the three Tornadoes closer to Kara.

"Are you ready, Power Girl?" Alex now asked in her coms, Barry able to listen in as he glanced to Kara who was now no longer in laser battle with Tornado one – it trying to escape the prison Quick and the Flash were making.

"As I'll ever be," Kara muttered, Barry looking to her now as she suddenly crouched and he frowned. "Jesse, grab Wally and get out of here, Barry come back for me when this is done."

"I don't want –"

"No arguing!" Kara shouted, Barry hearing her in both earpiece and in close proximity. "NOW!"

Barry and Jesse ran – Jesse grabbing the immobile Wally – as some sort of explosion happened behind them; Barry glancing behind to see just light, barely an outline of Kara, as heat caught up with him as well as a faint scream. None of the Tornadoes could be seen as his heart raced and his mind wandered. What had Kara done?

"Oh my god!" Cisco was the one to shout in his ear. "That's amazing! I never knew…"

"Kara's vitals are… steady," came Caitlin's surprised response and Barry sighed in relief, "but her energy levels have depleted, and her solar energy is gone completely."

"Tornadoes have been obliterated," Winn added, clearly enjoying this as Barry finally stopped.

He looked back to see the light receding, like a star had exploded and its force was now depleting, shrinking into a Dwarf Star, and he was starting to understand what had happened as he waited, as instructed, for the light to go completely. He noticed the ground was now shining and cracked, fused like glass from torrid and some points, particularly closer to Kara, were still bubbling from the pure heat – heat Kara had expelled from her own body… her solar radiation.

"Get her back to the Labs, now Allen" Alex now instructed him in his ear, as Barry didn't need to be told twice.

He began to move back, looking for any sign of the red robots but knowing Winn was right – they had been obliterated. When he reached Kara it was to find she was naked and unconscious, lying face down on the molten earth Barry couldn't remain on for more than a moment as he picked her up without thought and sped her back toward the Labs.

-PowerFlash-

"She'll be okay," Alex stated, a little defiantly as Caitlin looked over the Kryptonian, now under UV lights as requested. Jesse was flitting between her and the unconscious Wally, who had received a nasty knock to the head from being flung off by his Tornado; the speed she was going between the two was starting to annoy Alex. "And can you just choose one already? Or at least stop using your super-speed to go back and fort between two beds!"

"It's kind of hard to choose between your boyfriend and sister," Jesse snapped, a little too fast as she stopped by Wally bed now.

"How do you know for sure she'll be fine?" Barry asked now, going back to the conversation, looking in on Kara from the Cortex, not liking to see her like this – having only seen her unconscious and weak when she was first created by Duplicate; when he had been forced to throw lightning at her.

"We discovered this ability a few days before she came to find you – she had a sort of meltdown during training and exploded, taking a whole field with her too. But we had her under solar lamps right away and we had a heart-to-heart… But what she's able to do, Allen, what she just did, is push out all the solar energies from every cell in her body, in a sort of explosion, obliterating everything but herself in the vicinity of the explosion. It was lucky she was on a solo test when it was discovered."

"You called it a Flare," Barry stated a little monotonously, "as in a solar flare?"

"Most destructive thing we could think of," Alex smirked.

"I like the name!" Cisco called from the computers with Winn. "Although the full 'Solar Flare' has a better ring to it."

"Seal of approval," Alex smirked, but Barry was scowling, "Look, Barry, I know you care for her, deeply in fact and she does for you, but this was the only way to stop those Tornadoes. She had other life experience with those things, and she knew the dangers."

"I know. I know" Barry muttered. "I just wish you'd have told me before, so I could have been prepared for… for this." He indicated the unconscious Kara, they having moved to the entrance of the med bay now.

"If we had told you, would you have allowed Kara to do it?" Alex asked.

"Fair point," Barry muttered, biting his own lip this time.

"I certainly wouldn't," Jesse suddenly spoke up in between the two beds again.

"How's Wally?" Barry quickly changed tact, knowing this was an emotional double-blow for Jesse, more than himself. He liked Wally, he was a brother to him, but they hadn't got off on the right foot from the start and even now they didn't really know each other that well, even after Barry had initially sacrificed himself to save Wally from Zoom.

"Concussion," Caitlin spoke up, "and a fractured skull, although the skull is already healed, he just needs to heal internally."

"At least he finally got his speed-force coma," Jesse couldn't help but muse, squeezing her boyfriend's hand with a small smile at her own joke. "Kara will be alright, won't she?"

"Weak, maybe even mortal for a day or so, but yeah." Caitlin smiled reassuringly at Jesse, and then Barry at this. "She's determined; once she wakes she'll be desperate to get back to full strength and to her Power Girl lifestyle."

"You know," Jesse muttered suddenly, "I'm going to kill Maxwell Lord one of these days. The stories Kara had of Earth-3's Lord… I think they're identical to each other here."

"Power-crazed, ignorant geniuses?" Alex added.

"Sounds familiar," Barry muttered, thinking of Eobard Thawne now as he squeezed Kara's hand. Maybe Max was the thorn in Kara side Eobard had been for him. "Where did Diana Prince go?" He suddenly asked Caitlin and Alex.

"Back to the precinct – she's going to keep the secret obviously. That's kind of her job and she sort of already knew before this anyway," Alex stated loftily.

"I swear I've seen her before…" Barry now mused, trying to think; Alex simply shrugged.

-PowerFlash-

Iris marched into the office, camera in hand and knowing the hive of activity the place would be; she didn't quite know what had happened, but she had a cover-story for Kara already made up – it only just occurred to her that having Kara in place of herself as Cat's PA wouldn't be as efficient as it should be, especially if she was to cover her for Power Girl stuff.

"Eileen! Where's Karen? Where's my article?" Cat demanded the moment Iris moved near to Ms. Grant's office. "Can you believe the catastrophe Maxwell Lord has caused? Half the city looks like it's been through a hurricane and now Power Girl herself has exploded to stop three of those atrocities!"

"Ka– Power Girl exploded?" Iris asked in shock, almost using her real name. Cat indicating one of the screens behind her, showing areal footage of Flash and Quick running from some sort of solar explosion in the Badlands.

"Never trust an ex, Iris, especially when he wants in on the superhero game," Cat stated, glancing to her phone now and tapping out a quick email before Iris could even process what Cat had just said.

"An ex? Maxwell Lord is an ex of yours?"

"Of course. We've had as colourful of a history as you can expect, but his parents' deaths, his obnoxious self-love, and both of our desires to expand our own companies got in the way. This is precisely why I'm glad he's now in hospital – he's made of nasty stuff, Eileen…" Cat rambled, glancing back to the television screen. "The Flash took Power Girl back to wherever they're from. I need contacts, I need to know if my brand will survive the night and I need my assistant!"

"Oh, erm, Karen – Kara! – had a family emergency. Harry Wells…"

"Say no more. I thought maybe the Tornado thing… Anyway, back to position. I'll need a strict word with that girl in the morning or else she's for the chopping block like so many others. I'm thinking title." She suddenly changed the topic as she paced passed Iris, "I'm thinking 'Lord Enterprises in Shambles – Power Girl Explodes to Save Central City'. It's a bit of a long one, but it has substance. Update the website to give the smallest details possible, keep readers in their seats and then update with the evening issue of the Picture News once we have the full article written. Power Girl is my brand; I need to keep a personal eye on this. I'll start writing, Eileen – you know the Flash, get me contacts. Make sure Power Girl is alive!"

"Ms. Grant I will have to go…."

"Go wherever you need, just get this piece covered" Cat said, waving her arm dismissively at Iris, knowing whomever Iris was going to contact, she couldn't do it from the office. "And just make sure my girl is okay and be back here soon!" Iris nodded as she put the camera down and marched out; she had to get to STAR Labs and see if Kara was okay.

 _..._

 _Next time…_

" _What's up?" Barry asked innocently, trying not to read the sombre expression on their faces, not wanting to think it was bad new regarding Kara._

" _We need to talk dreams," Jesse stated, her tone incredibly serious considering the topic for conversation._

" _I'm sorry?"_

" _Dreams, Mr. Allen." Harry reasserted, "more particularly, those involving Zoom."_

" _Zoom?" Barry replied, a little blankly as Wally groaned audibly._

" _Jesse and I have been having bad dreams," Wally stated, moving up to Barry as he raised an eyebrow, "about you and Zoom."_

* * *

Post-chapter Note: I feel I need to address an issue brought up occasionally by a guest reviewer regarding my linguistics toward American terminology – I am British. Born and bred a few miles outside London itself and because of that, I have limited knowledge toward 'American terms' and so, some Briticisms will pop up – my Beta is American though, and she does her best to find these things, but sometimes even she can't spot everything, and terminology does slip through the cracks (although I refuse to spell 'colour' without the 'u' – it just looks naked to me). I understand this can throw certain strict American readers off but even so, I can't official apologize for it. The way I see it, is that if this was published or adapted to TV then these things would be strictly corrected, but this just a fan-written story; love and dedication make it, not strict linguistics and Americanisms. I hope you all understand and if you don't… well, that's not really my prerogative – no offense meant.


	12. Flash of Death

Note: Special Friday update, as promised! Please look to post-chapter notes at the end of this episode for more information on this story's return date, Batman, SuperEarth-2, and more… I hope you like the new style opening notes/dedications too.

Dedication: This chapter goes out to Immortalman18! Your thoughts about this story are truly awesome; you've seen the characters I have written in the way I'd hoped they be interpreted and I completely appreciate that.

Episode Twelve – Flash of Death.

Jesse woke with a start.

She had been at the West household as usual; Wally had recovered quickly from the Red Tornado attack, and so she and Wally had found themselves alone at his for the evening, both curled in front of the television with a lame movie on – the white noise of this, added to the pleasant warmth of the room and gentle rhythmic beating of Wally's heart in which her head was place near, and it was all Jesse could do not to stay awake. Which was when she witnessed it…

Running in some strange swirling vortex, Wally by her side, they had been chasing a figure in black. The closer she and Wally reached, the further the figure sped up, leaving them so far behind it seemed impossible, but neither wanted to give up, neither had the chance to give up. And then it had gone, Jesse and Wally tumbling into the darkness just as Jesse's body jerked awake and her mind knew, it just knew that the black figure had taken Barry – had taken the original Flash.

"What's wrong…?" Wally asked, sleepily himself; his hand had been in her hair, but he removed it quickly as she sat upright, trying to make sense of the waking world.

"Barry," Jesse muttered, leaning into her hands as she perched on the edge of the sofa now.

"Not someone I'd like my girlfriend to be thinking of," Wally joked awkwardly, Jesse trying not to roll her eyes as she lightly nudged him.

"No, I wasn't… Have you ever had a dream that wasn't a dream?" She looked toward Wally now as he muted the television and looked in confusion at her. "I mean; you feel like it should be a dream but you just know it isn't… I'm not making much sense am I?"

"Not really." Wally smiled, trying not to take Jesse too seriously right now. She had clearly had a bad dream and was trying to explain it. Wally knew that feeling – especially recently.

"It was a speedster dream." She moved back to rest on the sofa, her head leaning back so she was sort of looking at the ceiling, "I was chasing something –"

"A figure in black?" Wally suddenly interrupted, jumping up and forcing Jesse to quickly glance at him.

"Chasing after it, but I couldn't reach." She stated now, waking right up – it seemed Wally no longer was sleepy either as his eyes were wide in wonderment. Or was it worry?

"It was chasing Barry in my dreams and no matter what I did I just couldn't reach it," Wally muttered.

"Dreams? You've had more than one?"

"Ever since you came back to this Earth after Zoom was defeated." Wally admitted, "I didn't want to say anything to anyone – even dad and Barry would think I'm crazy."

"It took Barry," Jesse stated, ignoring now the amount of times Wally had had the dream.

"It took Barry?" Wally sat up now, completely alert. "Is this the first time you've dreamt this?"

"Yeah," Jesse looked worried now, glancing about the room as if this figure in black would jump out of the very shadows.

"We have to tell him, we have to find him and talk to the others. If this isn't a Team Flash thing, then I don't know what is."

"We can't involve Kara," Jesse suddenly stated, taking Wally aback.

"We can't?" Wally asked confused. Kara and Barry were…. well, Wally wasn't too sure what they were but he had a feeling Kara would want to know this.

"She hasn't got her powers back yet. If she knew some potential threat were coming… I don't want to think how she'd react." Wally could see the worry for her sister in Jesse's eyes.

"Okay, no Kara on this one. We talk to Barry first, then involve the team without Kara…"

"You know it could be nothing." Jesse hoped now.

"When has anything involving Barry been 'nothing'?" Wally intoned.

"Point taken," Jesse sighed. "And we were having such a good night too."

-PowerFlash-

"Hello Kara, my dear…" Kara's mother's hologram had been activated.

It was first thing the next morning; Kara had woken after a few hours of unconsciousness and remained in STAR Labs ever since; feeling weak and miserable. After some food and a chat with Jesse – before she went to Joe's place with a recovered Wally – Kara had gone back to sleep only to wake in the early hours of the morning, an idea in her head. She wanted some privacy as she didn't want to do this in the exposure of the Cortex, so she had routed the holographic program of her mother to the Gideon Room, which was where Kara was now, sitting cross-legged on the floor, feeling and looking very much like child listening to a teacher or, indeed, a parent.

"I need help," Kara stated, a little sadly. The hologram looked down and smiled sweetly at the Kryptonian clone – it was a very sophisticated programme.

"Anything," Alura In-Ze responded with a smile down to her daughter.

"I need to know about my powers. Specifically, when I blow them." Kara sighed. "I feel weak; I've never felt this way before… I mean, I have memories of the other Kara, the one from your Earth when she faced the Red Tornado and became human for a day, but I feel so much weaker…"

"How long as it been?" Alura asked politely.

"Just over half an Earth day. The last time I blew my powers by accident when training, but they came back reasonably quickly – not quick enough to help Barry though." Kara sighed.

"Your cells would need recharging; more than just putting you under artificial lighting and expecting them to restore. You blew every solar-powered cell in your body; you need to soak in the pure sunlight of the Earth's star directly," Alura offered.

"You mean sunbathe?" Kara couldn't help but joke at this as the hologram raised an eyebrow and Kara tried to remain serious. "Humans have this thing; they sit out in the sun for hours at a time to brown their skin – they call it 'tanning' – are you suggesting I do the same to gain my powers back?"

"Whatever it takes, Kara." Alura stated. "Direct contact with the sun will help charge your cells more than any other option."

"When will I gain my powers back though?" Kara had to know.

"It all depends on how empty your body is of the strengthening solar radiation. It could be hours or it could be a few more days."

"Days? But Barry needs me!" Kara protested, jumping to her feet now.

"Barry Allen needs Kara Wells, not Kara Zor-El at the moment." Alura smiled kindly at her daughter, who was breathing heavily now. "Doctors Stein and Wells have taken all the information required of your abilities into their own databases. I can explain further if you need me to?" Alura tried to help

Kara sighed, turning from her mother to stare at the opposite wall. She felt so conflicted now; she needed her powers to help Barry, but her holographic mother had a point: The Flash didn't need Power Girl. The Flash had been saving Central long before Power Girl turned up and now that he had Silver and Quick… she sighed. "No… no you're right. I think I'll go and catch a bit of sun now – it should be rising after all." She gave her mother a smile who nodded her head politely back and faded from view.

It was still strange using this holographic representation of her mother – she was so lifelike and yet so… alien at the same time. Which was weird considering Alura In-Ze was an alien to this world, but Kara didn't feel as connected to her as she should be – not as Kara Danvers had been on Earth-3, according to her memories. She could remember the day Alex had set up the holographic program in the DEO for that Kara, and how pleased and emotional that Kara had been, but she herself now? Alura was more an instructor, a guidance figure of a Krypton that didn't actually exist in the same way in this universe, she was not her mother, not the mother she never actually had. She didn't know why this surprised her though; even Kara Danvers had become detached from the program after learning some truths about her mother she never knew, but Kara Wells couldn't get attached at all. Even with Danvers memories the hologram just did not feel like a mother.

It sent a shiver down her spine when she thought to Duplicate, and how the clone-maker would be considered her real mother, the woman who created her, and as much as she wanted Alura to replace that figure, the less realistic this wish became the more solidified the meta-human's relationship to her became.

-PowerFlash-

"Another lunch date, Mr. Allen?" Kara and Barry were sat at Big Belly Burger now, both on their third burger when Kara couldn't help but joke – honestly she was hoping that consuming enough calories would help bring her powers back as well as the sunlight, but she had been pleased when Barry asked her out for lunch anyway; Big Belly was literally opposite CatCo Picture News so it wasn't too far for Kara to walk, especially as she couldn't speed anywhere for lunch like Barry could at the moment.

"A friend's lunch date!" Barry quickly interjected, not quite meeting Kara's eyes as he cocked his head to the side slightly, trying not to blush. "Anyway, you didn't answer me on how your first day at CatCo had gone? How's today shaping up?"

"Yesterday? That was fun, before Max came in a ruined the whole thing. Today? Cat's killing me – not literally. It's bad enough I don't have my powers" she kept her voice low at this, "to keep me alert to Cat's needs, but because I skipped half the day yesterday thanks to being unconscious she's made it her life's mission to make the rest of my week miserable. Even if I did have my powers back, I highly doubt Power Girl could make an appearance during working hours right now."

"When will you get your powers back?" Barry quickly interjected. "Harry said it should be sometime today but –"

"I don't know. I spoke to my mother this morning about it, but she wasn't exactly helpful. I don't think her program quite covers solar flares…" She nibbled on a chip, thinking deeply.

"How long did it take last time? Alex mentioned…" Barry started, but stopped at the glare she was giving him. "What?"

"I feel bad enough I don't have my powers, please don't ask me about ifs and whens, Barry." Kara moaned, Barry raising his hands in a very Cisco-like expression of surrender.

"I'm sorry, really, I thought… Look, why don't we do something this evening? Cat free, superhero-free, even STAR Labs free?"

"What are you thinking?" Kara asked Barry a little coyly now.

"Anything you want. Just name it." Barry leaned back, taking a big chunk out of his burger.

"Ice skating."

Barry almost choked on his bite, swallowing it down with pain as his eyes watered and he spluttered: "Ice skating? For real?"

"I've never been before," she smirked at Barry's foolishness as she confirmed, "and without my powers I might know what everyone else means when they say it hurts."

-PowerFlash-

Barry had just left Big Belly Burger and Kara, amusing himself with thoughts of ice skating that evening when he got the call from Wally, diverting himself back to STAR Labs before he could resume his afternoon at the CCPD. He arrived, not expecting the Labs to be so devoid of its usual staff – Ray and Caitlin had gone heavens knows where, Winn was in National prepping for a gig – that still amused Barry, and Stein and Jax were still in Pittsburgh which left only Harry and Cisco, with Jesse and Wally. Alex and the rest of the small ARGUS set-up were elsewhere in the building, although Barry tried not to think about this, already slightly regretting his agreement to let them stay after the events of yesterday.

"What's up?" Barry nevertheless asked the small group innocently, trying not to read the sombre expression on their faces, not wanting to think it was bad new regarding Kara.

"We need to talk about dreams," Jesse stated, her tone incredibly serious considering the topic for conversation.

"I'm sorry?"

"Dreams, Mr. Allen." Harry reasserted, "more particularly, those involving Zoom."

"Zoom?" Barry replied, a little blankly as Wally groaned audibly.

"Jesse and I have been having bad dreams," Wally stated, moving up to Barry as he raised an eyebrow, "about you and Zoom."

"The same Zoom who came out of one of my portals that time we sent you and Kara to Earth-3, to be precise," Cisco sighed, "or at least that's what I believe these two are on about."

"How long have you been having these dreams?" Barry asked, any coyness or ambiguity gone now as he addressed the pair seriously.

"A few weeks," Wally admitted first, "and it's always the same – I'm chasing after Zoom, he's trying to get to you and I just can't reach him to stop him…"

"You've only been Silver for a week," Barry vocalised, "and you've had the dreams for longer?"

"It's the only dream I've had since they started." Wally stated.

"How have you not gone insane?" Barry asked, amazed.

"I have a good coping mechanisms," Wally stated, a little surprised as he realised what this meant for Barry. "You've been having the dreams too, right?"

"Yeah. Not as continuously as you but I remember them." Barry began to pace, "I'm in front of Zoom, running for my life and only just keeping out of his reach – it has no start, and no ending, just… running."

"I think it's an omen," Jesse pointed out. "I had the dream for the first time last night and… you were taken. Zoom took you and there was nothing Wally or myself could do."

"But it's just a dream; something related to the speed-force, right?" He turned his attention to Harry now, knowing the man had something to say about it.

"I would concur, if it wasn't for the events of a few weeks ago when this Zoom figure took Cisco." Harry confirmed sombrely.

"It was hardly Zoom too," Cisco muttered, "more like a Flash of death… a Black Flash."

"Black Flash? Even in dire situations you come up with names for everything," Jesse stated in bemusement, "although I do like 'Flash of Death' – very depressing."

"Forget the name," Harry snapped to his daughter. "We need to stop this here and now. If the speed-force is trying to tell you something, we need to find out what is it, why and how we stop it."

"Which is where I come in," Cisco sighed heavily. "Harry believes I can vibe into the speed-force, like I did before to rescue you Barry, and find out what's going on."

"Which is where you come in also," Jesse turned back to Barry. "You're the original Flash, you're the representation of the speed-force and is what this Black Flash is after – if Cisco can connect you to the speed-force and find out what's going on, we can have the advantage."

"I don't know…" Barry hesitated. "Shouldn't we be thinking of Kara first?"

"What about her?" Jesse now snapped.

"She hadn't got her powers for a start," Barry replied.

"They'll come back, Alex has reassured us. In the meantime, we have this Black Flash conundrum to address," Jesse replied dismissively.

"What if I disagree to it?" Barry asked, a little defensively.

"Then we'll try with Wally and myself," Jesse snapped again, "but we'd prefer you instead."

"Fine. Okay, but first sign of trouble and we stop," he addressed Cisco now, "if that Black Flash comes out of a portal to take you somewhere I would never forgive myself."

"I doubt it's me Black Flash was after," Cisco pointed out, not delving further as Harry exchanged glances with his daughter. "I think we need to do this in the basement. We have that thing set up from last time."

They followed Cisco down to the room in question, Barry quickly changing into his Flash outfit, just in case, while he tried to ignore the worried feeling starting to swell in the pit in his stomach as they entered the basement, Barry taking one glance at the now-defunct breach machine where the fake Jay Garrick had been killed by his alter-ego before turning his attention to the others once more.

"I would ask if you were sure about this," Cisco stated worriedly, "but I know you're not, so we'll just get on with it." He put on his Vibe goggles as Barry took his place next to the metal stand – as there weren't two things to connect with, like last time with the piece of Barry's old suit and Iris, it was easier for Cisco to just rest on the podium, grab Barry's hand and concentrate.

Barry tried not to think of Zoom, but it was difficult when that was what was he was supposed to be concentrating on, and the more Barry tried to think of the Zoom he knew – the kidnapper, the fake Jay and the abusive murderer – the more he could only think of that dream, of being chased, of Jesse's revelation that Zoom had taken him… but where?

An otherworldly storm was swirling around Barry and Cisco now as the three outside of the pair took several steps back, shielding their eyes from the brightness of the vortex that was forming… and then it came – shooting from the top of the vortex with such pressure that it forced Barry and Cisco apart – the Black Flash speeding around the room, Jesse almost screaming as it came to a stop in front of the two newer speedsters.

If this thing had been Zoom, it definitely wasn't now – in fact, it resembled something out of a horror movie, with its costume ripped, it's face rotting and it breathing hoarse. Jesse had a momentary flashback to the first time she'd read about Dementors in the Harry Potter books, or even the Nazgûl in The Lord of the Rings, and suddenly felt a big connection to the titular characters of both of those books and the fear they had felt.

"Flaaaaaaaash," the creature suddenly spoke, no longer in the voice of either Zoom or Hunter; it was a strangled gurgle that confirmed Jesse's fear; Barry was on his feet and between her and the Black Flash in a second. This didn't deter the evil speedster.

"What do you want?" Barry demanded. "What are you?"

"Flaaaaaaaaash," the thing repeated, Cisco scrambling to his feet behind the thing, a look of fear in his face as he moved around it to join Harry.

"What are you?" Wally now repeated, moving cautiously next to Barry, shielding his girlfriend completely now, trying to tackle his inert fear of this thing too.

"Deeeeeeeeeath," the thing gurgled, it floating slightly left and right, reminding Barry of one of those Wraiths he had encountered a few months ago – the very creatures that had tuned Zoom into this… thing.

"Why are you haunting us?" Wally now asked; the one most affected by the dreams in spite of his words to the contrary.

"Flaaaaaaaash. Deeeeeeeeead," the thing replied, moving as if it were assessing the two in front of it.

"Not one on vocabulary, is it?" Cisco stated, a little braver than he felt as the Black Flash turned its head slowly toward Cisco, who took a step back in worry now.

"Briiiiiiing Flaaaaaaaash." It now said to Cisco before looking back at the Flashes.

"I think it thinks you're dead, man." Cisco now added to Barry, his voice quivering as the thing suddenly moved, circling the three Flashes, quickly gaining momentum as Wally and Jesse moved closer to each other but Barry knew exactly what to do he streaked forward and punched the Black Flash, forcing it backward as he cried aloud;

"You wanna get me? Come and catch me!" And he ran, not thinking as he sped to the pipeline, running passed surprised ARGUS guards and their captive meta-humans as the Black Flash followed him. He realised, a little too late, that he was recreating the dream as he gained speed, but the Black Flash kept up with him, just inches behind him as he heard Wally in his coms;

"Barry, Cisco's going to open a breach to send this Black Flash back to where it came from, just be ready okay?"

"Always ready!" Barry called, looking over his shoulder to see that the Black Flash was almost right on him, he hesitated, tripped and… vanished.

"Barry?" Wally asked, looking to the monitor Caitlin used to see his vitals, but there were no readings; he glanced to Jesse and then Harry in worry, they back in the Cortex already. "Barry?!"

"He gone," Jesse's voice was hollow as Harry moved next to Wally, pushing the boy unceremoniously out of the way as he went to type on the computer.

"Ramone." He now spoke into the coms, Cisco by the entrance to the pipeline, goggles on, waiting for the get-go. "Allen and Zoom have gone."

"What?" Cisco's voice could be heard. "What do you mean gone? Where've they gone?"

"I don't know. They've just… gone." Harry's voice was now hollow as he stared at the readings. "I'm pulling up security footage from the pipeline… It looks like Zoom took Allen through a breach of its own making…"

"But that's impossible!" Cisco, down by the entrance, pulled up data on the monitor himself, reviewing the footage Harry was telling him. "Where the hell did it take him to?"

"Black Flash said about death and being dead," Jesse's voice was shaking, "could he have…?"

"I've got to vibe for him," Cisco called, "It happened last time, it would happen again. I just need something of his… Hang on." As they heard Cisco moving away, Harry typing desperately on the computer, Wally pulled Jesse away.

"This is our fault!" He told her in earnest whisper.

"Cisco will find him; we'll get him back," Jesse stated defiantly.

"And what if he can't?" Wally asked.

"We find him ourselves."

"What?" Wally asked in surprise.

"Together we might be powerful enough to breach through the universal barrier, like Barry did to find Kara; maybe Black Flash took him to another earth, some sort of twisted lesson or something. We just need to run fast enough, concentrate on Barry – we're connected to the speed-force after all!"

"See what Cisco comes up with first though?" Wally asked, glancing to the entrance of the Cortex as Cisco turned up, panting.

"Of course," Jesse muttered, moving back toward her dad like nothing had happened.

Cisco had in his hand a piece of Barry's costume – the mask from one of his earlier Flash outfits as he waved it to the small group. "The only thing I could find at such short notice," he explained as he stopped just before the computer banks and pulled the goggles back down from his forehead. "Here goes nothing."

-PowerFlash-

"What do you mean Barry's gone?" Kara had come straight to the Labs after work; she wanted to check up on her cellular acceleration pattern, to see if she had soaked up enough yellow sunlight during her day – Cat hadn't been helpful in restoring her token girl's powers, the stresses she was putting on Kara, not that she knew Kara was Power Girl, after all. "We were going to go skating later…"

"Skating?" Jesse asked with a little smirk. She had been worried all afternoon – when Cisco's vibe had come up blank, her next thought had been on Kara, and with Wally getting on board with the plan, he had started insisting they take the reins and find Barry themselves. She, however, had been more and more cautious, to say the least, but now Kara was with her, now she could see the worry in her sister's expression as Cisco and Harry explained it to her… well, Jesse's heart broke for her sister.

"So Zoom, under the alias of Black Flash, took Barry god knows where," Kara finally stated, "and I wasn't called in for backup?"

"You're still weak, you couldn't have done anything," Harry stated, a little too bluntly.

"Well, just be glad I'm still weak as I will kill Maxwell Lord for making me like this today and not being able to help Barry when I should have been there. Hell, I'll kill Cat too as punishment for her twisted view on personal assisting!" She hit her hand on the table and winced, not used to the pain it caused her. Secretly she was mad at her mentor, Alex, too – if it wasn't for her insistence on using the solar flare, the four superheroes could have come up with an alternative plan to stop the Red Tornado so she wouldn't have been so human today, but Maxwell Lord was the main cause of her problem – he had made three Red Tornados, after all.

"Hey, Kara, calm down. We'll get him back," Jesse rounded on her sister now, putting a hand on Kara's shoulder and pulling her other hand into hers, Kara meeting her sister's eyes as Jesse added: "I promise…" she pulled away from Kara, her mind set as she glanced at Wally and nodded.

"What… what are you guys planning?" Cisco asked, worried now. "Cos I couldn't find either Barry or Black Flash so if you think you're going after them…"

"You may be able to open breaches to other earths, see into the void between them and vibe people's locations, but you'll never be connected to the speed-force like we are," Wally stated coolly, Cisco frowning as the two suddenly sped from the room.

"It's not that easy!" Harry called, running to the computer banks now as Cisco took to his side and Kara moved behind them, still massaging her hand. "They're in the pipeline!" Harry now called, pressing the coms button so to speak to his daughter and her boyfriend. "Jesse, this won't work! Barry may not be on another world; he may not be anywhere."

"We'll find him dad; we can't just leave him to the Black Flash's fate. This is what we dreamed about, Wally and me, chasing the Black Flash, getting Barry back because we will, we'll find him. Kara, you'll go skating with Barry soon, I promise you."

"Jesse!" Harry called into the coms, "please, we can find another way!"

"They're running," Cisco stated, a little hollow himself now, "you don't think they'd open a breach already though? It took Barry a whole year before he could and that was by accident."

"Allen wasn't trying to open breaches though," Harry pointed out, "Jesse and Wally are!"

"They've just broken the sound barrier," Kara stated, a little excitedly as they felt the facility rock with the sonic boom they'd created in the pipeline.

"Do they realise how dangerous this is with the metas still in lock up?" Cisco pointed out as a warning alarm sounded; several of the cells had broken upon the contained sonic boom. "I hope ARGUS and Alex are alert, cos we have five out of containment. And there's a breach opening!" Cisco couldn't contain his excitement either now.

"Jesse, please, we'll think of another way, don't do this!" Harry now cried, not wanting to lose his daughter in some hapless attempt at finding Barry.

"I'm doing this for Kara, dad. And Cisco… come find us," Jesse replied as the communication cut out; Quick and Silver having vanished through the breach they had created.

"Jesse?" Harry called, "Jesse?!" he tried again.

"They've gone…" Cisco stated in shock as he slowly swivelled to face Kara. "God, I hope they find him. I hope I can find _them_ … we need to get everyone back – this may cause complications."

"Metas on the loose, all three Flashes gone and Power Girl still powerless?" Kara stated, her heart now dropping as she realised aloud the complications Cisco meant. "We're doomed."

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Post-chapter note 1: The first thing I need to address is the return date for Power Girl and the Flash. As you know, this episode marked the mid-season point and I hope the story worked well. Because of this I need a break to build up my backlog of stories so I hope to bring this back by September 16th – I only need to get at least three episodes written before I'm comfortable in updating again. I do have my weekends for this month pretty much jam-packed, but this date should be fine to go in your diaries on the return. Yes, you might realize this is a Friday again… this is because the 14th episode needs a special Monday update for reasons I cannot reveal yet.

Post-chapter note 2: Secondly, Guest Reviewer Jordan brought up a very interesting topic of Batman in my story. As you all probably know, my Beta isn't a fan of Batman and has stated so in her own story (Karry Universe) a multitude of times, to quite a sad negative response. Before I go on here I do not need a repeat of what happen in her story with Batman. So please hear me out. Now, while I share her views that Batman is 'too loved', and am still not a huge fan of his, I have however seen, and know, his character more from the live-action 1960s TV show (oh, how I love the corniness) to the movies of Burton all the way to Snyder. I have very few problems with him personally, but have no plans to include him beyond either a namedrop or a reference – those keen-eyed readers may have spotted the Batman/Bruce reference in 'Vigilante Injustice' for example. However, I must stress this is a story about Kara and Barry, not Bruce Wayne, so I apologise if this disappoints. I don't plan on addressing this issue in-story again, but am happy to discuss further in PMs if any members have ideas or want confirmation on anything.

Post-chapter note 3: You can see why I left these at the bottom now! There's a lot to say. Anyway, thirdly I want to address my spin-off story – SuperEarth. There is still interest in this story and I have been asked by some of you if/when I plan to bring it back so I can exclusively reveal that yes, SuperEarth WILL be returning for a much longer story (you can thank the Suicide Squad movie for inspiration on that) but only once I've finished this story, which leads me to my final note…

Post-chapter note 4: This story. As you should be aware, I have 23 episodes drafted for this story, although four of them have been unplanned (episodes 13 – 17 I know, and the final 2); now I could reduce the episode count to 20, which wouldn't spoil anything I currently have plans for and would bring SuperEarth back quicker than planned, or I can expand to 24 episodes if you guys really want more of Power Girl. The idea behind this is due to both the popularity of this story and that of SuperEarth that I do not know what I should do – so I need your votes/PMs/reviews to tell me what to do in that respect. If you want more Power Girl then say so, but if you want SuperEarth, tell me that too, and if you have an idea to fill the one- or five-episode void then tell me that too! Looking for ideas on villains, characters to include, etc… Ideas I can't fit into this story I can either re-work for 'SuperEarth-2' or a possible second season of Power Girl so please let me know and please always remember to REVIEW as always so I know there is interest still in the story.

Until next time. Sigma out!


	13. Lost and Found

We're back, baby!

Note: For those who want to know what happened to Jesse and Wally, please check out my Beta's chapter, When Worlds Collide (it's chapter 51 of her Karry Universe story) as, although parts will be covered here in the form of vibes and more, the true adventure can only be found in her crossover chapter. I loved it, so I hope you guys will too!

Dedication: I'm starting to run out of people to dedicate chapters to! I love all reviews and readers so don't be shy in reviewing with your thoughts and feelings toward this story. Nevertheless, this week's dedication goes to Frog1! I know this story isn't your cup of tea, but I do appreciate you ploughing on through with it nonetheless. So thank you.

Episode Thirteen – Lost and Found.

It had happened again! He had lost his daughter – his own flesh and blood. The first time it was to Zoom, the second to the speed-force and now to that damn Barry Allen. Harry always knew there was consequences to one's actions; however, he did not realise those long-term consequences and, despite the happy face he normally put on, was still only just accepting the fact that Jesse was a speedster like Allen.

"Vibe them!" He turned to Cisco, who had already been in communication with Caitlin and Ray, who turned to look at Harry's desperate expression and nodded.

Leaning back in his chair, Vibe goggles now back on his person, Cisco concentrated. He thought of Jesse and he thought of Wally. He thought to them vanishing into that vortex and he was suddenly hit by an image – the pair were in the wastelands of Central! And they weren't alone. Barry was with them! The image was unclear, a little foggy, but he was sure of it as he whipped off his goggles to look at the agitated and worried Wells.

Cisco didn't say anything though as he turned back to the computer and pulled out a live satellite feed of the wastelands, scanning it for signs of life and let out a groan. "I thought…" he finally voiced, "but I guess I was wrong."

"What?" Harry now demanded, "What did you think? Did you see her?"

"Yes, but I believed them to be outside the city. I was mistaken. I think I vibed another earth! They are on another Earth and Barry was there."

"That's a good thing though?" Kara pointed out, having been quiet since her sister and Wally had vanished, but hearing Barry was with them gave her hope.

"I suppose so, but we don't know if it was our Barry." Cisco stated, a little nervous now. "The image wasn't clear, which isn't good. I mean normally I can see other worlds so clear when I focus, which makes them easier to connect to but this one… Something's wrong."

"You're telling me!" Alex had appeared at the entrance, looking flustered as she marched into the room. "We have a major breakout and we haven't even been here a week. What happened? What did your people do?"

"What does it matter what 'our people' have done?" Harry now rounded on Kara's mentor, "Isn't it your job to make sure these metas are kept safe from the public no matter what? That's what you're here to do after all, it's why Allen allowed you to stay."

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!" Alex snapped back, "It was Mrs. Diggle's idea to set up camp here, and Allen agreed to those plans."

"I don't think he knew what he was getting into when he did, besides I see through your façade, Ms. Danvers! You only came here to be close to Kara!" Harry was suddenly protective of his second daughter.

"Hey, whoa, time out!" Kara suddenly snapped, standing between the pair hands out in the air. "You two can argue until your heads explode later, but right now we have two problems – metas on the loose and our three resident speedsters having gone AWOL."

"Allen's gone?" Alex suddenly asked having not known this information.

"Sounds like you need all the help you can muster." All heads turned to the doorway to see that the cavalry had arrived, in the form of Caitlin, Ray, Sara and Dinah – the latter pair outfitted out in her White Canary outfit and a new version of the Black Canary. This alone shocked the arguing pair into silence as Cisco jumped up.

"Oh my god – you're Black Canary already, Dinah?" He moved over to the two Canaries, ever the fanboy.

"It's… I think it's a calling," Dinah shrugged unsure. She wore black tights and boots similar to Laurel's time as the Canary, but her top was noticeably different – it was a jacket of blacks and yellows, with the tiniest hint of blue, and the yellow parts most noticeable as shoulder and elbow pads designed into the top, while her hair was the original brown that Laurel's had started off as and she wore no mask like Sara.

"Who designed that? Because it is sick! Wish I'd thought of something like that," Cisco whistled appreciatively as he took the outfit in and totally forgot about the matter at hand.

"Our mum." Sara now cut in as Dinah Jnr's face reddened in a blush. "After the past few years of keeping her in the dark, and with my resurrection, Laurel's death and Dinah's… creation, well she wanted to take a more active role in our lives and this was the result."

"Remind me to hit her up later – I think I need to pick up a few tips," Cisco nodded appreciatively, a grin on his face. If there was one thing he liked it was costume making.

"Ramone!" Harry snapped back at the computer banks. "If you're done fangirling over there…?"

"Oh yeah, sorry." Cisco pulled a look to the two Canaries before moving back to the computer banks, the four following him as he didn't sit down, knowing a briefing was imminent.

"What happened?" This was Caitlin now; she was looking between Cisco and Harry in worry. "You mentioned about metas and Barry?"

"Jesse and the West boy," Harry stated, his need to address anyone not related to him by their last names ever more apparent in his stress and worry, "decided it would be a good idea to call back the spectre of Zoom as he's been troubling them in dreams. This creature as he is now, and as Cisco dubs 'Black Flash', claimed Allen and took him god knows where, which is when my _wonderful,_ " the sarcasm was evident there as he did not approve of what Jesse or Wally had done, "daughter and her boyfriend decided to go after him because, and I quote, 'they are connected to the speed-force in ways Ramone here wouldn't be' – they thought they could find him."

"They opened a breach on their own and I haven't been able to reach them since." Cisco now cut in as Harry sighed and began to pace. "But what I can see is foggy and somewhat unreliable. I need Stein's help as he's good with the multiverse theory and possibilities on why there are some places I simply cannot reach. In the meantime, Quick and Silver accidentally –"

"They were foolish!" Harry corrected Cisco with distain.

" _Accidentally,_ " Cisco stuck to his guns, "broke a few containment cells when running the pipeline to open their breach and metas are loose. Alex," he suddenly turned to the ARGUS agent, "I assume they haven't been contained?"

"Five escaped, two of which we managed to recapture but I'm afraid Shawna Baez, Roy Bivolo and Joey Montelone have managed to escape the facility," Alex stated, a little despondent.

"And even with your newly added security…" Harry stated sarcastically.

"We're still setting up!" Alex countered, annoyed. "It's not like we thought two speedsters would break our containment."

"I didn't know we had Peek-a-boo and Rainbow Raider in lock up?" Cisco stated a little too loudly to prevent Harry from retorting back – he resumed pacing angrily again. "When we tried to move them out of the pipeline last year…" Cisco continued.

"ARGUS' Meta-human Department hasn't just been training Kara and putting our feet up, Cisco." Alex stated with a little sigh.

"Then why didn't you keep them at your place?" Caitlin now spoke up, she and the other three listening in and intrigued.

"Because you had the better holding facility. We thought they would be safer here, but obviously we were wrong there." She glared at Harry, still at odds with him now.

"Okay" It was Kara's turn to speak, "can you two please keep your anger to yourselves while we're at red alert here _?_ If you haven't forgotten, I haven't got my powers yet and we still need to find Barry, Jesse and Wally on top of getting these dangerous metas back – priorities!"

"Yes, priorities!" Cisco jumped up now as he now looked to their newcomers. "I've called in Martin and Jax so we'll have three metas verses two canaries, Atom and Firestorm… Actually, I'll need Stein to help me with this multiverse stuff… and Dinah, are you really…?"

"Yeah, I think maybe you should stay back." Sara suddenly told her sister softly, she quickly explaining at the look Dinah was giving her: "you're barely trained – it took Laurel months to really become the Black Canary and me… well, I'm constantly still in training. Maybe you should stay as back-up unless we need you."

"But I want to help! You need me," Dinah complained, but Sara answered her with a simply glare.

"Okay. Atom and White Canary against three metas? Those aren't good odds," Cisco now muttered, worriedly.

"It'll be like old times. Anyway Cisco, why don't you try and vibe for our speedsters, determine where they are and then get Stein's help?" Ray spoke up. "Then one of us can take a meta each."

"You speak sense" Cisco grinned, pointing knowingly at his friend as there was a cough from behind him.

"What about me?" Kara asked determinedly. "Whether I'm ready or not, the world needs Power Girl."

"What Power Girl really needs is her powers first," Alex cut in as she stepped forward. "I may not be a meta-human myself, or trained in martial arts or even have some fancy robo-suit, but I can help. It's my job to help round-up meta-humans, but I think I need to do this your way, not ARGUS' way." She glanced at Harry, who had stopped pacing and was looking at her weirdly, "please."

"Okay then, odds are better," Cisco grinned. "Four against three. You know we have Hydroman somewhere, don't we?"

"Yeah, with his powers he would be useful," Alex pointed out, "but he's still fairly new and untrained. He's spending time with his family out of town, but close so could be called in if needed…"

"We'll keep him and Dinah in reserve," Cisco stated thoughtfully, just as a new figure entered the labs – if they all weren't so used to Firestorm, the burning man would have been a little freaky. Although Dinah was a little freaked out, even if she didn't show it.

Stein and Jax separated behind the two Canaries as both progressed passed the sisters to Cisco and Caitlin now. "We came as soon as we heard," Stein stated in concern, "this is very bad."

"Figured Firestorm would be of help, so here we are," Jax smirked. "I see you gathered the troops, so what's the deal?"

"You know our database of metas," Cisco now addressed the pair – Stein knew from first-hand experience, Jax knew from Stein, "then you know how dangerous Shawna Baez, Rainbow Raider and Tar Pit are so I'm thinking Sara and Ray, you go against Shawna. She can teleport anywhere, so your Assassin training will help you there at least, Sara. Jax and Martin, Firestorm is needed against Rainbow Raider. You need to keep a cool head around him and I think you're the most level-headed of all here, Martin."

"Which leaves me against Monteleone?" Alex asked. "You know what he can do, right?"

"Do you want to help us or not?" Harry snapped at Alex again, but she raised her hand, not wanting to fight.

"I wasn't complaining. Just stating fact, Doctor Wells." Alex stated. "I'm happy going against… Tar Pit, did you call him?" She now turned back to Cisco.

"Tar Pit," Cisco confirmed with a nod and wry smile. "Actually no. Ray, you go against Tar Pit – I think Atom would be better at taking him on. Sara and Alex, you go against Shawna." Both women nodded at this, the decision finally made.

"And what about me?" Kara asked, arms folded and a glare to her face now.

"On the reserve bench with Dinah and Cole," Cisco stated, moving closer to her now as he stated softly, "Look, until you get your powers back you're weak, I don't want to risk it…"

"And if I don't get my powers back?" Kara muttered back.

"Hey, you will do. Central's come to rely on Power Girl of late – you can't let down your adoring public" Cisco grinned.

Kara couldn't help but smirk back at this, but even as she did a niggling feeling came to recesses of her mind. The other Kara had had a power outage and something, apart from solar energy, helped her gain her powers back, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was. A mental block that was frustrating her more so now than the loss of her powers.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked around to Harry, who was looking at her worriedly now. "While they do their saving-the-city stuff, we'll get those powers back, Kara." He stated softly, wanting to help and knowing this was the best way to do it. Cisco went back to address the group and Caitlin moved over to the computers to find out where their three bad guys were.

"Thanks," Kara stated back to her dad, "Rao knows why they've not come back yet…"

"Rao?" Her foster dad was suddenly distracted by this new term and Kara suddenly realised what she had said and couldn't help but grin.

"Oh, it's… he's the name of a Kryptonian deity, the personification of Krypton's sun. They – we worship him as a god of light and life… I can't believe I haven't mentioned him before since I got the memories. I guess it took a time of desperation to finally admit to him…" She half-blushed, half-grinned at this. Kara Danvers was a true believer in Rao it seemed, and that belief had passed onto Kara Wells, even though she had ignored religion until now.

"Well then, we'll ask for Rao's help too." He immediately accepted her religion, trusting to his second daughter in his own time of desperation, and not to mention worry.

-PowerFlash-

Winn had turned up moments later and joined Cisco and Caitlin at the computers back in STAR – it was an operation, to say the least, keeping all three of their teams together and Cisco had decided he would keep himself tuned in to Firestorm. Caitlin had Ray and Winn had Sara and Alex. They were a finely tuned machine, even if Winn was fairly new at this – at least both Alex and Sara had their own training to keep themselves in check, even if Winn wasn't so sure in himself yet.

"How's your brother?" Sara asked into her com, halfway across the city with Alex in tow. They had obtained a motorbike which Alex was driving and to keep her mind off the speed, Sara had concentrated on Winn back at STAR. She had heard about the Wally/Jim incident by now.

"Recovering. Still in hospital but he's fine," Winn responded back. "You're nearly on Baez's location now. The satellite is picking up her erratic movements. Did I ever tell you how cool this is?"

"About a hundred times since we started," Alex responded before Sara could, the latter of whom giggled at the remark. "Hang on, I think I've spotted her." Alex brought the bike to a sudden stop, she and Sara jumping from the vehicle with speed as Sara looked around for what Alex could see.

They were in a carpark, the evening light casting long shadows from neighbouring trees and apart from the distant sound of the city, nothing could be heard. "You sure?" Sara asked her partner worriedly.

"Trust me," Alex muttered, pulling out her gun as she stood perfectly still. Sara now watched her, taking in her body movement, her training kicking in as she thought she heard a distant thumping noise, like something moving through the air. She almost jumped at the sound of gunfire but the cry that sounded a second later wasn't hers. Before she knew it, Sara was running, moving to the border of the carpark. There was another thumping noise and an arm was around her throat.

"I'm not going back!" A third woman now cried, addressing Alex as Sara now moved – easily able to escape the arm and had the woman in an arm lock herself, almost breaking Shawna's right arm as she glared up at Sara.

"You don't have a choice, missy." Sara muttered, noticing the meta's free arm was bleeding from a point in which Alex must have shot her.

"I just helped my sleezy ex-boyfriend escape jail – I don't see how that's a prison-able offence." She suddenly vanished from Sara's grip, surprising the vigilante as she almost stumbled.

"Slippery one, that." Alex moved up to Sara as she held her hand out to the Canary, a small device in it. "When we caught her the first time, our people were able to make these bracelets to dampen her powers – without her teleportation she's no more than a petty criminal."

"Got it," Sara smirked, taking the thing from her with a small smile. "You've done your bit, now it's my turn…"

"What do you mean?" Alex asked concerned.

"Ever seen the Canary in action?" Sara withdrew her bo staff, moving away from Alex now as she looked around the carpark, letting her other senses run wild. Tracking down the meta-human girl who could teleport. She moved, sprinting in a direction and leapt. There was a shriek and a cry and Sara had someone pinned to the ground; Alex ran up to her, intrigued to see how the Canary worked, to find Sara was on top of Shawna, who was struggling below the vigilante.

"Nice moves," Alex remarked as she noticed Sara had already put the dampening bracelet on the woman's wrist.

"I won't go back!" Shawna shouted again, but Alex was already tying her hands up, putting the other bracelet on the girl who remained struggling under the White Canary.

"Oh, do shut up!" Sara muttered, hitting the woman around the head and knocking her out with the blow. "Ah, better…" Now she stood, swooping over and lifting Shawna in a fireman's lift before turning to Alex. "Enough room on that bike do you think?"

"I'll grab a taxi; you take her back on the bike," Alex nodded as Sara moved over to the bike.

"That was pretty epic," Winn came across their earpieces, having remained silent since they started against the meta and Alex had to smirk at this – Sara not used to, or even taking in the praise.

"That she was. Hey Sara…" Alex jogged over to the woman who was trying to mount the bike and put the unconscious Shawna safely behind her.

"Yeah? What is it?" Sara looked over at Alex with a raised eyebrow.

"This is totally out of the blue, but you doing anything tomorrow?" Alex had to ask. If she didn't now she never would.

"Unless it's help find Barry and stop more meta-humans… nothing really. I mean I have Dinah to help but… why?"

"Want to go out somewhere? Like hang?" Alex asked innocently.

"Don't see why not," Sara smiled at the agent before starting the bike up. "See you back at the labs, Agent Danvers."

Alex watched with a small grin as Sara retreated off into the distance. This was good. She had a date. Maybe she'd walk back to the Labs? It was a lovely evening, after all…

-PowerFlash-

"Peek-a-boo taken down," Winn informed the others from his computer as Caitlin and Cisco looked to him, impressed.

"Seems like the White Canary and Agent Danvers were a good mix," Cisco stated with a nod, Dinah came up behind Winn.

"Shame they didn't need the Black Canary, but Sara was right." She stated, a little despondent, but happy for her sister.

"The night's not over yet, Canary-3," Cisco teased as Dinah mouthed the three part with confusion. "Atom's still tracking Tar Pit and there's been no sign of Rainbow Raider…"

"Perhaps you better vibe for Jesse and Wally again?" Winn asked. "See if there's any clue on how to get them back."

"Good idea, Winny-boy," Cisco stated, pointing a finger playfully at his friend as he leaned into the mic to talk to Firestorm. "Vibe's going to be AWOL for a minute." He told the pair.

"Don't be long – trusting on you," Jax's voice could be heard as Cisco whipped his goggles back on with a small smirk.

He concentrated on Jesse and Wally, like last time. Thinking, wondering… Again, as if through a thick fog he could see things, like a silent movie as he thought he saw a white dog with glowing eyes and Barry in his red suit, albeit with a red symbol instead of his current white one – what did that mean? Wally and Jesse seemed to be out of place in their costumes as he heard, like a distant echo, Kara's voice asking Professor Stein to find a way to get Quick and Silver back to their home earth…

He took off the glasses, no longer in a pleasant mood as his mind raced.

"Well?" This was Winn now. He had never seen Cisco vibe before and was slightly put off by the lack of special effects that it took on the meta-human.

"There was a dog… that made no sense. I don't know. I know now they did not find our Barry. They have a different one. I think their version of Stein is going to make some sort of primitive device to open a portal, but I can tell you now it won't work. I'll need to help, but I'll need to concentrate on their Stein now, not them, to, I dunno, give him advice? This will be a tough one…"

"Err, Cisco?" He heard Jax's voice back through the computer and turned his racing mind's attention back. "We found Mr. Bivolo, but it's bad."

"How bad?" Cisco asked, back-tracking what he'd missed.

"Like Jefferson-angry bad." Came Jax's voice in a very Stein-like remark.

"Why, what happened?" Cisco asked Firestorm.

"I'm afraid Mr. Bivolo gave us one glance and Jefferson saw red," Firestorm replied in Jax's voice but Stein's mannerisms. "I've tried talking him down or at least gaining control of the body until the effects wear off but Jefferson is a tough young man. As you can tell I've managed to, at least, gain access to his vocals."

"Can you unmerge? Separating..." Cisco started.

"Negative. We both need to be in control to do that and Jefferson's keen to remain powerful, at least for now."

"Where are you heading?" Caitlin now asked, having left Ray for a moment.

"Back to STAR Labs incidentally."

"Good! Maybe we can lock you up until Jax calms..." Cisco now came back.

"I don't believe that's Jefferson's number one priority," Stein muttered as Jefferson moved a hand to remove the earpiece so as to stop communication with STAR.

-PowerFlash-

Kara and Harry had relocated away from the madness to try and concentrate on figuring out why Kara's powers hadn't come back when a wall imploded. Both father and daughter jumped but momentarily calmed when they noticed the fiery individual emerging from the hole.

"Perhaps you should have used the entrance – Barry can't afford repairing walls so easily..." Kara mused.

"I would advise you to run," Jax spoke, sounding more like Martin than the young man.

"What?" Harry now asked, just as Firestorm shot a jet of flame at the doctor, Harry just missing it.

"What the hell?" Kara now cried as she ran to her dad.

"I apologize. Jefferson can't control himself..." Firestorm spoke in the third person as he went for another shot.

Kara didn't think, but acted. Shielding her dad with her own body and expecting to be hurt by the flames that now hit her, she was surprised when she felt nothing. In fact, she felt something different altogether, she felt powerful again. "Adrenaline!" She now exclaimed quietly to her surprised foster father as she sprang up.

"Glad you're feeling better, now help us!" Firestorm cried to the Kryptonian as he sent another blast of fire Kara's direction.

"Why is Jax doing this?!" Kara demanded, trying to remember that there were two persons inside of the meta so it didn't seem so weird talking in the third person.

"He blames Harrison for his lost career – he had a football scholarship before the Particle Accelerator explosion." Kara dodged another fire blast, keeping Firestorm from her dad. "Jefferson thought he'd made peace with it but Mr. Bivolo saw that he didn't."

"That was a different Harry though!" Kara reasoned as she jumped at Firestorm, trying to redirect his arms.

"Anger doesn't see logic," Stein responded quite reasonably.

"I see," Kara muttered and then elbowed the burning man in the head, he instantly going down, unconscious from the powerful blow. "Sorry!" She added awkwardly.

"That's quite alright." The moment Firestorm hit the ground the two bodies separated, and it appeared that Professor Stein was in perfect health, but Jax was still out of it. Stein instantly crawled up to find Harry now at the opposite end of the room. "I must apologize for our actions..." he started.

"I... understand," Harry breathed as Kara went to pick up Jax, realizing her clothes were now in burned tatters, barely giving her modesty. Still, she didn't think of her personal comfort as she ran Jax to the Cortex and placed him on the medical bed so frequently used.

"Cisco. Spare costume?" She was in front of the tech before anyone could react, although Caitlin stood instantly to run to Jax's side, used to being the resident doctor and surgeon by now.

"Err, where the other one was –" Cisco started, but Kara was already gone before he could add: "but it's not ready yet!"

Winn took over communication with Ray, who was now busy trying not to get covered in Tar from Tar Pit just as Stein and Harry entered the room, both looking a little flustered. "I guess I'm free to help you now..." Martin informed Cisco.

Before he could respond to Stein, Kara was back in the room, her off-white full-body suit and three-quarter length blue cape at the ready. She opened her mouth to address Cisco when Winn suddenly spoke up.

"How is it you're indestructible but you're able to cut your hair?" He asked, almost like a curious child.

"What?" Kara replied, taken aback not having expected that question at all.

"You just took several blasts from Firestorm, almost burned your clothes off but your hair remained immaculate. I saw when you first came about and you had long hair then... it just doesn't make sense is all." Winn shrugged.

"I've never really thought of it," Kara responded, a little confused now as she turned to Cisco. "I see no difference in this suit to the other."

"Well, after your little solar destruction the other day I decided on adding in some clever additions. I'll show them to you later," He teased.

"If you're going after Bivolo I believe he was heading for the train station. Seems like he wanted to leave town." Stein now added to Kara, almost anticipating her next move.

"Thanks. Time to show the world that it's not easy to take down Power Girl!" Kara stated, putting on her new mask and leaving without another word.

"Why were you asking for hair tips?" Cisco now rounded on Winn.

"The girl does nothing to look amazing! A guy can get jealous." Winn pointed out to a raised eyebrow from Cisco.

-PowerFlash-

Ray was having troubles of his own. He had found Tar Pit in the very factory where his meta-human powers had manifested. Caitlin had been doing well in helping him try and find ways of beating the tar man, but it seemed there was a distraction in STAR Labs, meaning he was on his own.

"Okay, time out," Ray called to the meta, holding his hands up in a 'T' sign. "I don't want to harm you!"

"You all want to harm us. Just because we're different," Tar Pit replied, shooting a jet of tar at Ray's ATOM suit in spite of the time out.

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to repair this thing?" Ray intoned, "And I keep telling you I don't want to harm you! Has that tar blocked your ears? We don't harm you because you're different. Flash is different and he's our friend. Power Girl, Hydroman… They are not locked up."

"Then why are you here? Why can't you let me live in peace?" Tar Pit responded angrily.

"Because you're a danger to the public." Ray reasoned. "You were murdering people when the Flash stopped you" He had done his research.

"I was only seeking vengeance! I don't mean harm against others," Tar Pit reasoned.

"Murder is murder whether you're human or meta human. Whether it's vengeance or if someone is innocent, but if you come with me quietly, maybe we can get you sorted for a quick release?" Ray tried.

"Are you mad? They'll lock me up and throw away the key! There was no way I was going to be let out before tonight. I'm not going back." Again, he shot a jet of molten tar at Ray, it hitting the visor of his mask and temporarily blinding him, but the Atom suit wasn't harmed this time around.

Tar Pit turned to run, but was struck in the head by something, not expecting that as he fell to the floor, disorientated as he looked up at the woman in yellows and black. "Yeah, you're not going anywhere." The new Black Canary reasoned with a smirk.

Tar Pit screamed, using his abilities to grow taller, turning his body back to pure tar as he enclosed the Black Canary, but his form was ruptured by another blast from Atom. "I _said_ I didn't want to harm you, not that I wouldn't…" He stated as flaming tar now shot in his direction, Dinah crouching in the pocket of tar she was now enclosed in.

"You need to freeze him," Winn's voice suddenly came as clear as day into Ray's ear as Ray looked around, surprised.

"Not that I'm complaining, but I don't think I have the equipment for that. Why did Cisco send me against this guy?" Ray reasoned, annoyed now as he kept blasting Tar Pit in the effort of freeing Dinah from his entrapment.

"Not a clue," Winn replied. "He's a bit busy to ask right now…"

"Well I suppose I'll just have to think on my feet," Ray stated, moving forward to punch the thing.

"You don't have to, now" came another voice as a familiar figure in white landed right behind Ray, wasting no time in blowing freezing air at the meta, his large tar form receding back to human as Dinah was freed and looked at Power Girl in confusion. Dinah didn't waste time, however, in using her own batons to knock the meta about the head again, knocking him out this time as he collapsed to the ground and Kara smirked. "Who knew that would work a second time?"

Without waiting another second, she shot back into the air, heading in the direction where Rainbow Raider would be just as Ray groaned and moved over to Dinah. "You okay Canary?"

"Yeah!" Dinah replied happily. "My first mission."

"I didn't think I called for back-up?"

"You didn't. I just used a distraction to help out. Sara probably wouldn't be too happy, but at least I proved I'm field-ready." Dinah grinned a look Ray was used to from Laurel Lance's clone.

-PowerFlash-

"Two down, one to go," Kara called in her earpiece to Winn and Caitlin – Cisco had now gone off with Martin to devise a way to bring Jesse, Wally and Barry back while she did what she had missed in the past 24 hours.

"Okay. Rainbow Raider's waiting for a train. He's not used his powers against anybody yet, but I'd be wary," Caitlin replied.

"I might be immune" Kara reasoned as she located the train station ahead of her. "I mean; it's not like he's Red Kryptonite." The memory suddenly surfaced in her mind.

"Red Kryptonite? What… I don't want to know." Caitlin said, figuring it was an Earth-3 thing. "Do you really want to take that precaution? You saw Firestorm" Caitlin reasoned.

"Good point. I'll just have to take him by surprise then. Wonder where he got the money to get a ticket?" Kara stated, swooping down and using her x-ray vision to locate the man, knowing his features from record and self-observation during her time at ARGUS' main facility.

Rainbow Raider turned at the wrong moment, Power Girl picking him up and lifting him above the city.

"What the hell? Are you crazy, girl?" The meta complained, his eyes glowing but Kara kept concentrating ahead, making sure not to look directly at the meta-human she was carrying until she had returned to STAR Labs. "Put me down!" He now complained, wiggling in Kara's arms, making it hard for Kara to keep hold of him.

Kara was very tempted to drop the man and catch him again to prove a point, but knew that was just plain wrong and she wasn't that type of person, but had to admit to herself that this was all too easy. Two metas had been simply knocked out and this one she had caught like a bird seeking its pray – life was not that easy, especially her life. Especially Barry's life.

Rao, she hoped Barry was alright. Wherever he was. If things were easy Barry would be here right now and this would have never happened. Maybe this wasn't so easy after all. Not when Kara thought of the cause of having to track them down.

"Nice going Power Girl!" Winn chimed in as Kara walked back into the Cortex a few minutes later, Rainbow Raider now safely locked up again – along with Shawna and Tar Pit – and noticed Sara was back in the labs too, looking pissed. Dinah was nowhere to be seen and Kara realised why Sara was mad immediately.

"At least we got them back," she stated. "With cells going spare."

"Shame my little sister didn't listen to me and stay behind," Sara cut in.

"Little sister? I thought Laurel…?" Caitlin now asked, looking curiously over at Sara.

"She's my little sister when I'm in charge, and I was tonight."

"Give her a break," Ray now entered the room, followed by a now subdued-looking Dinah as Sara turned to address the pair, "she only wanted to get out and have a bit of fun."

"Fun? She could have been killed!" Sara started, concern clearly in her voice. She had lost Laurel. She wasn't losing her new sister now so soon after getting her.

"You and Nyssa have been training me for a month now, Sara – I can handle myself!" Dinah stated angrily now, "besides, mom wouldn't have made me this outfit if it wasn't for my desire to be Black Canary and how can I be her if you won't allow me to embrace it?"

"She's got you there," Ray winked at Sara who just glowered in return.

"Hey guys? There's something happening in the pipeline…" This was Winn as Caitlin rolled in her chair next to him to take over the readings.

"There's a breach forming!" She gasped, stunned.

"Jesse and Wally?" Kara now moved excitedly around to go behind the pair as Sara, Ray and Dinah looked on in intrigue.

"I don't think so… the readings aren't the same," Caitlin now stated, a little worriedly.

"Barry?" Kara jumped to the conclusion, a grin forming as she wasted no time to run to the pipeline herself.

"Kara, whatever it is, it may not be safe," Caitlin now spoke in Kara's ear as the Kryptonian moved cautiously around the pipeline to find the small breach that was opening.

"It's Barry. It has to be. He's come back," Kara stated, almost wistfully.

"Kara…" Caitlin now tried, but the breach suddenly expanded and something red and yellow came speeding out, it was followed by a black streak which vanished once more into another suddenly-formed breach, leaving the more colourful blur to race around the pipeline before coming to a stop, panting, in front of Kara.

"It is you!" Kara almost squealed as she jumped at the Flash, their lips meeting before Barry could even react, but he didn't stop it. In fact, he leaned in for more and put his arm around her as an awkward silence met the rest in the Cortex.

"I guess I was wrong…" Caitlin's voice could be heard in Kara's ear, breaking up the moment between the two. "Although we still have Jesse and Wally to worry about."

"Jesse and Wally?" Barry finally pulled away from Kara, his face almost as red as his suit as he glanced worriedly at Kara before wasting no time in leading her back to the Cortex. "What happened to them?" He asked the shocked group.

"Forget them, what happened to you?" Caitlin now stood, marching over to Barry, who was still holding Kara's hand as his reddened face suddenly paled very quickly and dangerously.

"The Black Flash." He stated to her, glancing momentarily to Kara before back at Caitlin. "One minute I was in the pipeline, and then I was in this weird vortex thing – like in the dream Wally, Jesse and I seemed to be having – and I was literally living that dream! Black Flash was behind me, gaining closer, but I knew I had to get back, that there would be a way to stop him…" He looked around before asking: "What did happen to it?" Barry looked around as though he almost expected the Black Flash to be behind him still.

"It vanished back into another breach," Kara supplied.

"Oh," Barry muttered, he turned back to Caitlin as he further explained. "I concentrated on coming back here, I thought of… of Kara and you guys and then I was back in the pipeline and there was Kara… the rest, well… But what happened to Jesse and Wally? Where could they have gone in such a short amount of time?" He now rounded on Kara for this one.

"You do know you've been gone for a few hours right?" Kara asked instead.

"No? I thought it was a minute or two. Damn," Barry stated, finally taking off his mask and glancing back to the full room. "What happened? Come on."

"Wally and Jesse blamed themselves for your vanishing," Kara informed Barry before Caitlin could open her mouth. "They went to find you themselves. They opened a breach to somewhere and accidentally broke some of our metas out of containment – everyone was called in to help gather them back."

"Not that we were all much help with Power Girl back in play," Ray mumbled, to a raised eyebrow from Barry.

"Yeah, you got your powers back?" Barry couldn't help but grin at Kara.

"Needed an adrenaline rush. Firestorm helped there – long story." She shrugged. "I wish I had remembered the adrenaline rush thing, though. It just slipped my mind."

"Where's Cisco? Why hasn't he opened a breach to get Quick and Silver back?" Barry now addressed Caitlin, turning back to his missing friends.

"Because he can't. He can't get a lock on them…" Caitlin glanced to the door of the Cortex where Cisco now stood, staring at Barry.

"Oh man I missed the action!" He cried as he moved into the room and clapped Barry on the back. "Good to see you home, safe and sound, man." He stated fondly as Barry smiled at his friend.

"Didn't know I'd be so missed," Barry teased, Cisco's eyes moving down to Barry and Kara's still-clasped hands.

"About time," he muttered, looking at that with a grin.

"For what?" Barry and Kara asked together, instantly removing their hands from each other's grip as Caitlin and Cisco smirked at one another.

"Never mind," Cisco smirked as he took a breath. "I've been trying to locate Jesse and Wally but just can't get a focus on them. The last I saw they were at that's version of Joe's place with Joe and Iris and well… you two, so they're safe, no matter where they are – I think they've gained the trust of those around them, but it's going to take time to get a focus on that earth. There's more, but I want to be sure before I confirm anything to you, so for the moment, if everything's safe, I think you're all dismissed."

"When did you become the boss?" Barry teased with a laugh. "I've been gone only under a day and you're barking orders like you own the place."

"Sorry," Cisco blushed, "but I had no idea how else to say it. Caitlin, how's Jax?"

Barry's eyes followed Cisco's to the med-bay as Kara retreated to the others now lingering, as Caitlin explained what happened with Firestorm and Rainbow Raider. Kara smiled at Ray, Sara and Dinah. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Dinah was first to speak, which surprised Kara as she added, "Facing off against Tar Pit was an interesting challenge, but thank you for coming to the rescue."

"Yep. I'm thinking of adding some sort of liquid ice solution to my suit," Ray mentioned. "Next time I face off someone who needs freezing, I want to be ready."

"Nice," Kara nodded as Ray excused himself now, moving over to Caitlin as Kara couldn't help but grin.

"So… Alex may have asked me out," Sara blurted out. Kara and Dinah looked at her in shock and then at each other. "I'll let you know how it goes." She added with a shrug, not wanting to address the issue she so suddenly brought up and Kara laughed. Dinah put an arm around her sister and left the Labs, Kara watching them go before turning back to the remaining members of their team, seeing Winn alone at the computers still.

"You okay?" Kara moved over to him and took a seat. Even though Jesse and Wally were still missing, the world suddenly seemed like a much happier place. It was Barry. Having Barry back brought the mood up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Winn stated dismissively, "still getting used to this whole Team Flash stuff…"

"I think its 'Team Power-Flash' now," Kara couldn't help but joke, but Winn didn't share in the amusement. "Come on, what is it?"

"Ray and Caitlin… Jesse and Wally… you and Barry…" Winn stated, almost agitatedly.

"Me and Barry?" Kara asked innocently not really sure what Winn meant.

"Hell, even Sara and Alex now, possibly." Winn went on, ignoring Kara's innocence. "It's just… I can't help but get a little bit jealous."

"Not got a girl yourself?" Kara now asked.

"No. Not a girl" Winn said a little too forcefully as he kept his eyes locked on the computer at this.

"A… guy then?" Kara now wondered if this Winn was different than the one on Earth-3 in what sex he was interested in, not that she minded either way, but Winn suddenly stood.

"I should go. Visiting hours for Jim." He moved to the exit, not looking about as he left, leaving Kara a little dumbfounded as Barry moved back over to her. He was still in his Flash outfit.

"Everything okay?" He asked, cautiously putting an arm around Kara's shoulders.

"Yeah. I think Winn's… never mind. How's Jax?"

"You gave him a nasty blow, but he'll be fine," Barry stated. "I was wondering. After that… you know… in the pipeline. You want to come back to mine?"

"I thought we were going ice skating? Or had you forgotten that?" Kara rounded on him now.

"Oh. Yeah. But I assumed since you've got your powers back… well you won't know about it hurting…." Barry's hand found the nape of his neck in nervousness and Kara only now realised how cute he looked when he did that.

"Just because I can't get hurt doesn't mean I won't enjoy the experience, Barry Allen." Kara folded her arms like a little child wanting to get her way, reminding Barry how young she technically was, but Barry smiled, not caring. She was a woman even if she was only a few months old.

"And then maybe after…?" Barry added, hoping Kara would come back to his.

"We'll address that when we come to it," Kara winked now, unfolding her arms as Barry gave a cheeky grin.

"Whoa!" Both turned to see Cisco leaning against the desk. He had cried out as he'd fallen and Barry was by his side instantly.

"You okay?" Barry helped move him to the swivel chair as Caitlin stood in the doorway of the med-bay with Ray just behind her, looking in on Cisco with concern.

"Yeah, I just vibed. Completely unintentional… I forgot how the uncontrolled ones felt." Cisco muttered, waving Barry away now that he was okay.

"What did you see?" asked Kara now. "Jesse? Is she okay?" Kara was still concerned for her sister, who was in a place where Kara could not help her.

"I hope she is. They were fighting! Wally and Jesse. I think it was Hydroman and I swear Maxima was there…" he muttered. "Still cloudy and discombobulating…"

"Maxima?" Kara straightened up, suddenly nervous and looked around.

"Another Earth. You're safe," Cisco stated. "I just wish I could see them clearer. Still, in the morning once Harry, Martin and myself have done our research… come back here at lunch you two, I'm sure we'll be ready then." Both Kara and Barry knew when they were being properly dismissed and, nodding to the three in the Cortex now, they left – getting changed into civilian clothes first, of course.

-PowerFlash-

Lunch time couldn't come sooner for Kara.

Even though she had her powers back, she could handle Cat better and had reassured Iris numerous times that her brothers were okay – both of them – just knowing that Jesse was still lost on another Earth was bad enough for her to handle. True, going over her second official date with Barry in her head was soothing, but it didn't help control her angst. She had stayed over at the West household too, which had a sombre mood without Wally there weirdly, so hadn't spoken to her dad since she'd saved him from Firestorm – and the odd text to make sure they were both okay. Jesse really was the gel that kept the small Wells family together.

"So, are you and Barry actually a thing?" Iris asked as she moved over to Kara's table with her article on the breakouts yesterday – she was still covering all meta activity in Central, and being Cat's PA, Kara had to look them over before handing them to her boss.

"Two dates and a couple of kisses… what would you call that?" Kara asked innocently.

"A couple of kisses?" Iris raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"The ice rink is slippery, even for the Flash," Kara replied conspiratorially, lowering her voice for the last bit as she couldn't help but smirk.

"So did you guy do anything but kiss?" Iris asked and Kara seemed confused. "Come on what base did you get to?"

"Base? Is this sports again? What is it with you, Jesse, and Caitlin and sports?" Kara asked and Iris laughed, forgetting sometimes Kara did not get simple, albeit adult, things.

"Never mind. So, how long until I call you 'sis'?" Iris responded.

Before Kara could reply, a new figure suddenly appeared over the pair, despite being just over five foot five in heels, as Cat Grant loomed over the women. "Unless this gossip is about Power Girl or Firestorm, I think it's best to keep it to your personal time, ladies. Is that your article?" She pointed at the papers on Kara's desk while addressing Iris.

"Yes, Ms. Grant." Iris nodded.

"Thank you," she claimed the paperwork from Kara's desk. Kara didn't want to tell her boss she hadn't even looked through it yet so instead pretended to look busy as Iris moved back to her desk across from Kara's.

"Lunch time at STAR?" Iris mouthed.

"Yeah. Need a lift?" Kara mouthed back. Iris nodded.

-PowerFlash-

"Zoom succeeded."

It was officially lunch time. Ray, Caitlin, Harry, Stein, Barry, Iris, Kara and of course Cisco were all gathered in the Cortex, the ones who needed to go back to work were eating lunch at the same time, although all stopped at these words from Cisco.

"Say that again?" Barry asked. "I stopped him. We've been to other worlds. They're there."

"Okay, so not completely succeeded, but his plan did work. When Zoom used himself and you to charge the Magnetar, he was attempting to destroy the multiverse… and he did. To an extent. You stopped the whole thing from being destroyed but the machine did have time to work. It's why I can't see Jesse and Wally clearly or gain access to them," Cisco told the group.

"Yeah, about that." Kara raised her hand. "Are you even going to attempt to get them back?"

"It's all about timing," Cisco told her now. "Last I looked they were at a wedding –"

"A wedding?" Iris asked now confused, but Cisco didn't quite meet her eyes as he nodded.

"I've been communicating with that Earth's Martin to help create a device to bring them back. It's been hard since I have trouble getting to that world, but I'm quite confident that together we'll be able to get Quick and Silver back before the day's end." Cisco now moved on, to intrigued glances from all.

"Mr. Ramone has been very clever with that," Stein now pointed out. "I doubt even that version of myself knows the thoughts for the device he's creating aren't exactly his own. He knows what he was doing; being me he is of course brilliant, but just inexperienced in this area. He was on the right course but still, Cisco and myself have nudged him right direction to help break the barrier of his own world and ours – leading him on the right course of action to make a rather primitive breach machine. Oh, and he is Firestorm on that Earth too, which is fascinating!"

"Indeed," Cisco grinned, although he'd lost a few members of his audience now – Iris, Barry and Kara a little lost as to how this all worked so moved on. "Anyway. Martin, Harry and myself spent all last night trying to get a fix on this multiverse madness. I knew when I sent Jay to the wrong Earth that something had to be wrong, but I didn't know how wrong…" He moved to the side to bring out the large whiteboard he used on occasion. On it was a hand-drawn spider's web, quite artistically drawn.

"Thanks Ray for pre-designing this, now I can explain what it's about," Cisco continued as Harry now moved to the other side of the board with a pen. "I call it the 'Multiverse Web Theory' – patent pending." He teased as Harry wrote the words 'Earth-1' on the centre of the web. "As you can see," Cisco went on, "the web's dead centre is us, Earth-1. Now we know Earth-2," Harry marked a random point one strand up from them on the map with 'Earth-2' "exists close to ours, but then we have Earth-3," Harry marked another point of the web on another strand with 'Earth-3' in parallel with the second one "which we know is safe, but this is when it gets tricky."

Without warning, Cisco smudged part of the web just above the marker for Earth-3. "The web has been broken, thanks to Zoom. The reason I can't see to Jesse and Wally." He pointed to part of the smudge, a line of the web just on the nearest edge of the disfigurement, which Harry marked as 'Earth-5 – Jess and Wally'. "The Earth Jesse and Wally are currently on is very close to the smudge. It's safe, alive and well, but it's hard connect to and I doubt the people on that Earth do much Earth hopping. How Jesse and Wally got there is unbelievable."

"They had help," Harry said making all eyes turn to him. "The speed force dreams. Barry being taken. This was no accident. Someone lead them there. Possibly the speed force itself so we would discover this." Harry held his hand up, indicating the board.

"Now," Cisco interrupted Harry and nodded at Martin, who moved off. "I want to know what the damage is, I want to know what Earths are gone, what survived and what can be rescued. To do this I need a clearer view of the other earths, which is where the Flash and Power Girl come in."

Barry had been waiting for this since the start of the presentation, Kara not so much, but she didn't react as Barry indicated for the Vibe to go on. "Including this Earth, I've pinpointed four potential worlds where I would like you to set up devices in which to enhance the images of what I can see."

"Why though?" This was Iris. "The damage is done, why go to the bother in doing all this?"

"Scientific knowledge, Miss West," Stein had returned with four small boxes, a look of shock on his face at Iris' question. "Why bother sending out probes just because the universe is out there? We can view the universe but we can't touch it yet. Probes are helping us explore the planets in our solar system, using billions of dollars for research and scientific knowledge. This is no different. Besides, how fantastic would it be to be the first people in known history to map the multiverse? To confirm its reality? It's been my dream since…"

"Okay, okay. Scientific knowledge, I get it." Iris raised her hands in surrender like Cisco normally did. Cisco smirked.

"Besides, if I'm right the universe wants us to investigate this," Harry now said, going back to his theory about Jesse and Wally being lead to the Earth they were currently on.

"These are devices Harry, myself and Martin spent the latter half of the night making," Cisco explained. "They need to be activated when on the four Earths I've isolated and connected directly to my Vibe goggles, allowing me to see so much clearer. If they were on the Earth Jesse and Wally are stuck on now, I'd be able to see them and grab them like any other Earth."

"What about the dead Earths?" This was Barry, who too raised his hand like Kara.

"There's nothing we can do about them, but they are dead, they no longer are classified as companionable Earths, sadly." This was Harry's contribution, to which Cisco nodded in sombre agreement to.

"So, these four Earths?" Kara asked.

"Yes!" Cisco grabbed the pen from Harry and marked off two other points on the edge of the smudge, before circling Earth-3 as well – it was near the smudge, but not close. "These are the four points – Earths 3, 4, 5 and 6. You know Earths 3 and 4, but to remind those who haven't," he glanced to Ray at this, "Barry accidently travelled to both of these a few months ago; he stopped two individuals from overcoming Supergirl and Cat Grant on one, and saved a lot of citizens from Zoom on the other. As I've explained, Earth-5 is the one Wally and Jesse are stuck on, but Earth-6 is a little bit of a mystery. We managed to use mathematical equation to figure out where in the multiverse to set the device up and I know there is a living Earth there, but as for what's on it… well, you can find anything. I'll be able to open a portal to get you there, but I can't see into it at all. Oh, speaking of which…"

Cisco suddenly moved away from the board, pulling his Vibe goggles back on to the confusion of all but Martin as he concentrated. His hand glowed blue, just like when he'd opened a portal to Earth-3 before, and suddenly a breach opened before him. Kara realised what was happening just as two individuals came speeding out of the breach, which snapped closed behind them.

Jesse wasted no time in running around the Vibe before stopping in shock at seeing – "Barry!"

"Hi," Barry gave her a small wave, but before he could drop his hand, Jesse slapped him. "OUCH! What the hell was that for?"

"We've been trapped! Looking for you and you've been here all along!?" Jesse practically shouted as Wally moved around, taking off his mask as he grabbed Jesse by the shoulder to pull her back.

"He came back by himself," Kara moved between the two speedsters, glad to see her sister back but shocked at her reaction to Barry's appearance. "And we did go skating!" It was an afterthought, but it worked as Jesse instantly calmed.

"You did? Do you have your powers back? Oh I've missed you!" Now she moved in to hug Kara, who reciprocated the embrace as Wally moved to Iris and hugged her without a word. "The other Kara was nice, but well she wasn't you. Not my sister. She didn't even know me, which kind of hurt."

"What's that you have, Mr West?" Stein now asked, noticing the large envelope in his hand.

"Pictures," he muttered. "We, err, went to a wedding while on that other Earth – you guys know there was another Earth right?" Wally saw the nods and continued, "well the Kara and Barry on that Earth decided to give us pictures as mementos, I guess."

"Kara and Barry were married there!" Jesse suddenly exclaimed, as if she'd only just realised this. "Although it wasn't their wedding. And she went by 'Supergirl' and we met her cousin 'Superman'. It was like a weird dream, but it was real."

"We faced off against Hydroman, which was weird too with him being a bad guy there," Wally now said as Harry looked through the pictures, his face dropping as he looked up at Caitlin and a confused Iris. "The original Weather Wizard was there too, you know, Clyde Mardon? And even Maxima! But she didn't try and kiss you – I think she was straight." He added this to Kara who couldn't help but scoff.

"Sounds like quite the holiday" Barry stated. "I remember when I breached to Earth-3…"

"Which was accidental," Jesse now pointed out. "But Barry, Black Flash – I have to apologise…"

"No need! He's gone," Barry said a little softly.

"Gone? Where?" Wally now asked.

"Dunno, but he went through his own breach and left me the hell alone," Barry shrugged. "Doubt it's the last time we see him, but we have other things to worry about now." He inclined his head to the whiteboard of Multiverse Web Theories.

"What's this?" Jesse asked, grinning at her dad who was otherwise distracted with the images Wally had brought back.

"Cisco…?" Barry asked, indicating his friend to explain again.

Harry had taken the envelope and the first thing he took out was an article. "Supergirl and Flash helped by unknown speedsters," Harry read the title off. "Are they now part of the Justice League of America?" Harry continued reading and paused at that point. "The Justice League of America?"

"Now that is a cool name," Cisco said, interrupting his own explanation of what his board was. "So you decided to do a Barry and lend a world a helping hand?"

"Didn't have much choice. Maxima, Weather Wizard, and H2-No escaped. They needed help and some of the members of their League were AWOL…" Jesse said and everyone looked at her. "What?"

"H2-No?" Cisco asked confused, and Jesse realized she had used the other Cisco's name for Cole Denier.

"That's what they called Hyrdroman," Wally said, trying not to laugh at Cisco's reaction.

"Seriously, that awful! Who named him?" Cisco asked.

"You," Jesse said, feeling like she had this conversation before and realized she had, only about Hyrdroman himself, not H2-No. "I'm having déjà vu here and just really want to know what this is all about." Jesse indicated the whiteboard once again, not wanting to go into Cisco's naming patterns, but Cisco chuckled nonetheless as he went back to his explanation and Harry shook his head and went to taking out the large number of pictures the pair had been given.

"Pictures?" Iris, Caitlin and Ray had moved over to the doctor while the others gathered around the whiteboard once more. They were curious to see a glimpse of this other world.

"You might want to prepare yourself for this, girls." Harry muttered as he pulled out two particular images. The first had Caitlin in a very pretty dress standing next to a familiar man in a suit. Ronnie Raymond. Instantly Ray grabbed his girlfriend's hand as her other one went to her mouth in shock.

"He's alive? On the other Earth?" Caitlin muttered. "I suppose he wasn't going to die everywhere, but…" She looked away from the picture, tears forming as Ray wrapped her in a hug. She was upset, missing her Ronnie – seeing him so happy with her in a life she didn't have, but part of her was glad that at least one version of her could be happy with him. She had Ray now, and although he wasn't the same, he brought her happiness that not even the fake Jay Garrick had after her loss.

"I suppose you have one of me and Eddie in there?" Iris asked, a little too forcefully as Harry nodded. She wasn't stupid and she knew if the picture that upset Caitlin was there, there was bound to be something to affect her. She was liking this other Earth less-and-less already.

"Ramone said it was a wedding." Harry produced an image of Iris and Eddie; only Iris was in a glorious white gown – a wedding dress – and Eddie in a very smart suit. She had prepared herself to see something like this, but her own wedding to Eddie on another Earth? It was like cruel fate. Iris instantly choked back the tears and shock as she nodded at Harry, avoiding the image now as she turned from Harry.

"I gotta get back to work," she muttered, almost as a zombie as she moved with speed rivalling Barry's out of the room, Barry himself frowning at this as he looked to Harry and then Caitlin and Ray still in an embrace.

"Eddie and Iris' wedding on the other Earth," Kara muttered to Barry, having seen the pictures from afar with her superior vision and heard Iris and Harry with her super hearing. She'd also managed to glance at one of her and Barry of that Earth, having seen themselves so happy and wondered if they were destined for that here now they'd had finally broken through the 'friend-zone'? Time would inevitably tell.

"Damn," Barry muttered sadly. Iris was just getting over Eddie and now to see that… He felt bad for her. "Please cheer her up when you head back to work?"

"Sure," Kara smiled politely. "Well, as much as I can with Cat about…" She liked Iris and hated seeing her upset after all.

"So? My plan?" Cisco drew them back in.

"What about it?" Barry now asked, a little distracted still by Iris.

"Multiverse-hopping? You two up for it?" Cisco forced.

"Of course" Kara smirked. "I can't wait to meet others of you lot!" Kara was also interested in seeing a version of herself and Barry together. Half of her wanted to grab the picture of their counterparts and keep it, but the other knew not to.

"It'll be more surprising than you think…" Jesse muttered coyly, with a small smirk now.

* * *

 _Next time…_

" _What were we calling it?" Cisco turned to address Jesse now._

" _The Karry Universe" Jesse stated a little humbly._

" _Karry?" Barry asked._

" _Yeah. Their Kara and Barry seemed pretty much in charge of everything and there was a call for 'Karry Karaoke' or something at Iris' wedding there, so Cisco and I figured, why not…"_

" _Oh, I get it – Kara. Barry. Karry. Very clever" Kara stated. "Not a fan of it, but I'm not the one naming things" she shrugged as Barry smirked to Kara at this comment. He didn't have an opinion there, but was all too keen to see what a world where he and Kara being together looked like, especially since he and this Kara had made things more official over the past few days._

* * *

Post-chapter Note 1: That's right! We're hopping over to the Karry Universe on Monday! I hope you guys don't mind a little universe-hopping, and a double Karry Universe update, but I see no harm in having a little fun and visiting places we've seen before, and some you won't expect!

Post-chapter Note 2: So in regard to cutting down this story, I've decided to reduce the amount to 21 episodes instead of 23. I think it's a good compromise, especially as my Beta has done a crossover episode, bringing the count, technically, up to 22. There may be one more crossover to bring it to the 23 count as planned, but, well… spoilers!


	14. The Karry Universe

CharmedMilliE – Karry Master Note: I am going to be saying this several times in my story, but I wanted to add here that this chapter is completely a hundred percent canon in my universe. Taking place right after my Legends of Tomorrow Chapter. This is basically a chapter of Karry Universe so I hope all my wonderful readers out there like it and give my friend here some amazing REVIEWS. That's all I wanted to say Karry Master OUT!

Dedication: This person doesn't read Power Girl and the Flash as yet, but even so this needed to be dedicated to TheSuperFlarrowVerse. He's a new Karry Universe convert but even in such a short time he's made fan video to the story, which lead me to want to dedicate this particular chapter to him. His video can be found in my Beta's profile, so I hope you all check it out. Anyway, on with the story.

Episode Fourteen – The Karry Universe.

It was Friday night. The week had gone surprisingly quickly since Barry, Jesse and Wally's return from their own adventures and now only the key members of STAR Labs were required – although Alex was silently lingering, along with Jesse and even Ray.

"Okay, before we get on the matter of universe hopping. Cisco, what new additions did you add to my suit? If you have added them yet?" Kara hadn't let this go since Jesse's return and Cisco had been very coy with her since. She didn't like it and it was annoying her now. If she didn't get an answer tonight, she was ready to threaten the costume's expert with a rather severe blow to the head to match that which she had given Jax. Not that she had revealed this to anyone but a bemused Barry yet.

"I suppose I better tell you before I send you off to… what were we calling it?" Cisco turned to address Jesse now.

"The Karry Universe," Jesse stated a little humbly.

"Karry?" Barry asked.

"Yeah. Their Kara and Barry seemed pretty much in charge of everything and there was a call for 'Karry Karaoke' or something at Iris' wedding there, so Cisco and I figured, why not…"

"Oh, I get it – Kara. Barry. Karry. Very clever." Kara stated. "Not a fan of it, but I'm not the one naming things." She shrugged as Barry smirked to Kara at this comment. He didn't have an opinion there, but was all too keen to see what a world where he and Kara being together looked like, especially since he and this Kara had made things more official over the past few days.

"So yeah, the additions. Well after your rather destructive takeout of the wastelands and how long it took you to gain your powers back, I added a little something to your House of El symbol." Kara was already in her Power Girl outfit so Cisco moved close to her and indicated Barry to move in too. Kara tried not to blush. "Inside the symbol, well at the back, there's a little pocket of stored solar energy. You just need to push it three quick times…" he did as he said and Kara suddenly felt as if she'd been dozed up on caffeine – more alert and active.

"Woah… Okay," Kara muttered. "That… I need to run off some of this energy." She moved off to the room holding the treadmill all three speedsters used now to blow off some steam as Barry rounded on Cisco now.

"What exactly…?" he asked as Jesse moved to look in on her sister.

"If Kara ever loses her powers again, for whatever reason, she or you just need to tap that three times and she'll get an instant dose of UV radiation – I've added small solar panels to her outfit, able to absorb the light and charge up the panel throughout the day and when in use," Cisco smirked.

"And if she explodes like before? There was nothing left of her previous suit. I remember you complaining about that." This was Jesse, talking from the door to the treadmill room.

"I've added precautions. If the rest of the suit were to disintegrate in some nuclear explosion, the symbol will remain." He turned back to Barry. "Just make sure it's against her skin and press it three times. I can't account for an adrenaline rush, but now Kara knows that element, she could invoke one herself easily…"

Kara came back out of the treadmill room at that moment, looking a little distracted as she re-joined the others. Jesse moved up next to her, to make sure her sister was okay after that surprising shot of solar radiation.

"And what if I accidentally knock it? I mean it's great if I'm in the middle of battle and need an extra boost, but if I'm talking to Ms. Grant or something…?" Kara now asked.

"I take it you heard what I said then?" Cisco grinned.

"Superior hearing." Kara reminded him. "So? What if I accidentally bump it or hit it?"

"That's the beauty of tapping it three sequential times. One knock won't do it, and if you're hit more than twice in the chest, the impact would be recognised as too hard to release the radiation to your body. Three simple taps. It's brilliant. Right?" Cisco looked to the others, starting to doubt himself now.

"While I can't help but think this idea's been used before," Barry muttered thoughtfully, "I like the concept anyway. It'll be helpful if we have no UV lights on these other worlds and maybe something for another Cisco to steal," he smirked at his friend.

"Hey! Copyrighted to Earth-1 Cisco okay? I don't want others making money from my ideas." Cisco complained.

"They won't," Kara sighed as Jesse giggled at this.

"How do you know a different Cisco hasn't already come up with this?" Jesse asked, making Cisco look at her. "I mean you could be second to it. Means it copyrighted to that Cisco, not you."

"I…" Cisco started, but Barry wanted to move on.

"Anyway, Earth-5?" Barry asked, Cisco closing his mouth at this. "Is there a reason we're doing this on the weekends and in such a peculiar order? Why not start with Earth-3 and work our way to 6?"

"Well, because I'm concerned more for Earths 5 and 4 than I am for 6 and 3," Cisco reasoned, to confused expressions. "Earth-5 was foggy, remember? It was on the edge of obliteration. Earth-4 I can't even vibe. I know it's there – Barry's been there for a start – but I just can't grab it. I'm hoping that by putting the device on Earth-5, then Earth-4 will be easier to access."

"Why is Earth-3 even on the list?" This was Jesse now. "You accessed it fine last month, from what I heard."

"Yeah, but there's a reason the Black Flash threw me into the place, Jesse" Cisco muttered darkly, "and I bet my hat it's got something to do with this multiverse death stuff."

"You don't have a hat," Kara stated, suddenly childishly. She'd never heard of this expression before.

"Figure of speech," Barry muttered into her ear as she moaned in realisation.

"And as for the weekends." He turned his attention back to Barry and Kara, "It may take longer than expected to remain on these worlds. I know Singh is pretty lax with you these days, Barry, but Kara you can't afford to miss time off from Cat Grant. Iris is going to cover you should you be needed at the weekend, but I'm hoping and trusting that you'll be back in time for work on Monday, which is why I'm not wanting to rush this. Four worlds. Four weekends."

Kara, Barry and even Jesse looked impressed by this, but then another idea came across Kara's mind. "What if we're needed back here. Power Girl and the Flash? It's been really quiet so far, but for four weekends?"

"We have two Canaries, Atom and Quick and Silver in town. Not to mention Joe and his new meta-human taskforce," Cisco pointed out simply, "Central will survive without it's resident speedster and Kryptonian for two days a week. I bet Cat Grant won't even notice – might get better press if something were to come up though…"

Kara actually snorted at this, causing Jesse to come down in a sudden fit of giggles and Kara to join her.

"What did I say?" Cisco glanced to Barry in shock, who replied with a surprised shrug as they waited for the women to calm down. "Okay then. Advice. Jesse, you were on Earth-5 for a night. Any clues you could give these two?" Cisco indicated Barry and Kara.

"Erm, just be yourselves? It's not like it's a talent contest. Although," she suddenly got serious "that Earth's Barry and Kara are pretty much top dogs – what they say goes, so be prepared for a slight change in the status quo of their STAR Labs. Oh and avoid the actual dog too."

"Actual dog?" Barry asked, confused.

"Yeah, they have this Kryptonian dog. You do not want to get on his bad side and it's hard to remain on his good side, but he is that world's pet to Kara and Barry so he may trust you. Or hate you. I don't know. Dogs are strange that way, they know when there's an imposter –"

"Okay, okay, avoid the dog," Kara stated as she added more quietly, "wish I had a dog though."

"Maybe for the future?" Barry muttered.

"It would break if I pet it though" Kara frowned, suddenly glum.

"Well, if you gain the trust of this Kryptonian dog, you can pet him until your hand's raw," Cisco stated a little irritably now.

"Then again, he was nice to me until Wally called him weird. That world's Cisco might have said the dog was sexist…" Jesse muttered, more to herself than anyone else as the real Cisco gave an irritated moan. "Sorry" Jesse added.

"Right, so now that's all explained, I think all I need to do is open a breach to that world and send you on your way," Cisco stated.

"How's that possible?" Barry now asked. "You had to get help from that Earth's Stein and unless you have been in contact with him again…?"

"That's why I have Jesse here. Remember when you were in the speed-force and Iris called you back? Well it's the same principle, if slightly in reverse. Jesse concentrates on that world she was stuck on; I catch hold of those thoughts, that vibration and then I open a portal. I can't guarantee it will remain open for more than a second, and they're not expecting you over there, but it's the best I can do," Cisco stated.

"Just… send us somewhere near that Barry and Kara," Barry now told Jesse, "I think if we get in their good books first, then we won't need to worry about the others."

"Just remember to put the device somewhere safe – their STAR Labs is probably a good contender. If it's destroyed it would be hell to send you another one." Cisco reminded the pair.

"Are we likely to get it broken?" Barry asked innocently, pulling on his mask now as Kara put on hers. The time was now it seemed as Cisco gave Barry an awkward look before indicating to Jesse that he needed her.

Although Cisco had told her what he was going to do, Jesse was still a little apprehensive on what was to come – she hadn't forgotten the Black Flash and she didn't want to be pulled into some vortex like Barry had been, but she wanted Barry and Kara to experience this 'Karry Universe' first hand, and for them to put the device there, so she had to grin and bear it. She took Cisco's left hand as he raised his right one and thought of the world she had breached, of that strange dog and the long-haired Kara. She thought about that Joe and Iris and the explanation behind Wally non-existence in that world. She pictured the battle they had had against H2-No, Maxima and Weather Wizard; of Iris' wedding and the titular pair singing karaoke with such professionalism. She'd have to ask Kara and Barry when they got back if they were just as talented…

She sensed the wind rushing from the vortex as she opened her eyes, noticed Kara and Barry holding on to each other and then vanishing, just as the portal closed and they were left in silence. She instantly let go of Cisco's hand as she moved slowly over to the point the breach had been.

"Now we wait…" she muttered, turning back to Cisco.

"And now we wait," he repeated, nodding in worry as he took a seat.

-PowerFlash-

Barry was used to universe hopping by now, but Kara was not. She had been fine when heading to Earth-3 before, but maybe it was because this world was not as accessible, or maybe she was worried as to what she was to find on the other side of the breach, but she did not expect the nausea to hit her so instantly the moment she passed through the blue wormhole-thing, leaning on Barry for sudden support.

They landed on the other side a lot slower than expected and Kara almost stumbled as Barry took a momentary look to see where they were, before being distracted by Kara's sudden queasiness.

"You alright?" He asked in a low whisper, realising they were in the room of a house before his ears picked up the noise. "What's that…?"

He turned to look in the direction of the odd noise and almost shouted. They had landed in a bedroom and there was activity going on in the bed. Another noise joined in that of the bedsprings as his eyes caught sight of the two glowing orbs nearby and a familiar voice moaned, "What is it Krypto?"

A light was turned on and Barry and Kara was met with the face of their identical doppelgängers, the Barry and Kara of this Earth moving so quickly, even Barry himself couldn't catch the movement as both were suddenly in clothes, with the long-haired Kara holding back the large white dog before the other Barry rounded on the pair.

"Who the hell are you?" This Earth's Barry demanded, glancing quickly back to his Kara before adding back to the pair, "Spill, or my wife won't hesitate in releasing the dog – and his bites hurt!"

Both Barry and Kara ripped off their masks to properly reveal their faces, to a sudden shocked gasp from both the other pair as the Prime Barry raised his hands. "We're you. From another world. Look, I know this is hard to believe…"

"More Earth hoppers?" The other Kara actually sighed. "Looks like Cisco was right. At least I finally get to see another me. What's up with the costume?" The Kara of this Earth looked to the costume with dubious look on her face. She obviously didn't approve of the whites and blue. Despite her sudden calm, she didn't release Krypto, but the dog didn't back down anyway.

"It's a long story," Kara stated. "I'm… err, sorry we interrupted… you know. Can we talk?" Her eyes moved to the dog before she suddenly added. "We're friends of Jesse and Wally. I'm Jesse's sister on our Earth, in fact."

The other Kara's face lit up at this, her Barry glancing to her before turning back and smiling. "I assume you're not the same Barry-White from before?" He addressed the Prime Barry.

"Barry White?" Barry confirmed in question.

"Figured since you knew Wally and Jesse you were not the same one. That makes you Barry White Two; call me Barry Red. Urm…" he glanced to his Kara and back again. "Come to the kitchen, it looks like we have a lot to talk about."

Barry and Kara let out breaths or relief as 'Barry-Red' led the way out of the room, and Barry realised they were in an apartment, not a house as he noticed everything was on one level. "Nice place," he muttered as he glanced back to find Krypto trotting at his mistress' ankles, keeping the intruders constantly in his vision. At least he'd powered down his laser eyes. "Cool dog," he tried, hoping complimenting the dog would make him ease up.

"Krypto is a Kryptonian dog, the last of his kind. I am his mistress and Barry his master. He's not keen on men though" this worlds Kara informed the Prime Barry, confirming Jesse's words, as she now indicated to the bar stools at the breakfast bar of this kitchen. Prime Barry and Kara sat, as ordered.

"So," Barry-Red started, taking a position opposite the parallel pair as Krypto remained by the Prime Barry and Kara's heels, glancing between the pair in quick motions, obviously still keeping them under his guard. "What are you doing here?"

"Better question would be what were you doing in our bedroom?" Kara Allen said as she got herself a glass of juice.

"I agree with my wife. What were you doing in our bedroom? World hoppers usually come to the wasteland," Barry-Red said.

"Oh. Sorry about that. We wanted to get close to you so the portal was opened near you." The Prime Barry didn't realise this would be his starting point as he looked to the other version of himself and Kara. It was weird. He remembered looking to his clone, Malcolm Garrick now, and the oddity of seeing a twin there, but facing one here and now, someone who was literally his double, just one world apart was distracting. Even more distracting than when he had met the Barry of Earth-2. That one had been so obviously different from him, but this one seemed to have a similar life. He was the Flash here too after all. Or at least that's what Jesse and Wally had told him.

"Our Cisco has a meta human power. He can open up portals to other worlds, but he has some trouble with this world. I don't think he realized we were going to be interrupting you" Prime Kara started, both their doubles looking to her now. Prime Kara was uncomfortable with this topic of conversation.

"Jesse said something about being a 'Vibe'," Kara Allen remembered with a small nod to her double and more than happy to change the subject.

"Yeah," Prime Barry had found his voice now. "He can see and sort of reach into other universes and like my Kara said, open portals. Parallel universes."

"When searching for Jesse and Wally, he couldn't quite see this world," Prime Kara continued. "So he looked further." Kara Allen and Barry-Red both raised an eyebrow at this and Kara suddenly had the impression they were talking to one another, without even opening their mouths. It freaked her out.

"You see," Prime Barry continued when Kara stuttered to continue herself, not having noticed the oddness now surrounding their doubles, "a few months ago on my Earth, there was this bad guy speedster –"

"The Reverse-Flash?" Barry-Red quickly asked, a look Prime Barry recognized, in his eyes.

"Not him, but he did exist." Prime Barry stated. "This other speedster stole this device from Mercury Labs which he manipulated to destroy the multiverse – all the other worlds but ours, this one included – but only partially succeeded."

"Not sure if we're grateful about that or not," Prime Kara stated now, having found her voice as her eyes moved from her other self and down to the dog sitting between herself and her Barry.

"I think I'm pretty grateful," Kara Allen stated, to a nervous laugh from Prime Kara.

"But our Cisco – Vibe – wants to see what damage was done. He made devices," Prime Barry continued as Kara produced the first one from a pocket on her light blue belt Cisco had added before they'd left "that would help him see into what's been destroyed. We don't completely understand it, but we trust him enough to hop universes to plant them for him."

Kara Allen looked at the thing Prime Kara had placed on the table, Prime Kara now actually scratching Krypto behind the ear absently as the pure Kryptonian smiled finally. Krypto seemed to have calmed down on the intruders now that his master and mistress were okay with them. "It looks safe, and I would trust our Cisco so I would assume we'd do the same for him, employee or not –"

"Employee? I thought just Barry owned the Labs?" Prime Kara asked before backtracking as Krypto growled happily as she continued scratching him behind the ear. "Oh, you're married, so you'd own what he owns. I forget the whole marriage-property stuff."

"More than that," Barry-Red smirked, "but you'll find that out in the morning."

"We will?" Prime Barry now asked.

"I may be able to see every component of that thing, but that doesn't mean I know how it works. I'll feel safer if I can get my Cisco to look at it first before we trust you to leave it behind and jump on to the next universe," Kara Allen stated.

"Right," Prime Barry stated. "Totally understand. Trust me when I say that you can't trust every world hopper who comes to you. Learned that one the hard way."

"In the meantime, help yourself to some food, and we'll set up the extra room for you two." Barry-Red stated pleasantly, about to move off to one of the doors leading off from the kitchen/living room before hesitating. "Err, single or double bed?" he asked hesitantly. "We have a fold-out sofa bed in the spare room but it's not too big, so an extra sofa can double as a bed…"

"Two singles," Prime Kara pointed out, feeling like she was booking a room at a hotel. Not that she'd ever done that before.

"You two…?" Kara Allen asked, indicating if the pair were an item or not.

"We've been on three dates now," Prime Kara spoke, still petting the dog behind the ear – it was second nature already, she not used to easily pet an animal without breaking them before, so taking any opportunity she could with this dog. "So we may get to a double eventually, but not quite yet" she added as her Barry took a sudden interest in the magnets on the fridge opposite.

Barry-Red grinned as he moved off to the spare room finally, leaving them with the other Kara, who now looked through the counter to see that her dog was otherwise occupied and actually laughed. "It seems Krypto's taken a shine to you," she stated. "Then again, you are me…"

"I've never been able to pet an animal without doing harm to it," Prime Kara stated to a nod from her double. "I wish I had a Kryptonian pet like yours back on my Earth…"

"Well, make no mistake, he's still a guard dog and I'm going to leave him with you overnight, but I won't disturb him yet," she grinned to her dog before moving back. "I'm going to make some calls. You two help yourself to any food from the fridge – you know how much we eat to keep ourselves going so it's packed."

She wasn't kidding as Prime Barry jumped up to look in the fridge, finding a little of everything in there and turned back to Kara with few slices of chocolate cake. She hesitated.

"I know Cisco said it might take a day or two, which is why we're doing this on a weekend, but staying overnight here? It's kind of… weird," she stated as he placed the cake in front of her and grabbed a fork himself.

"How so?" Barry asked, not wasting time in chowing down opposite her. "They are us after all."

"Us as a _married couple_. We interrupted them… you know," she didn't want to go into detail. As much as she wanted to be with her Barry – hell, she had from the moment she'd saved him from Duplicate the day of her creation – she just wasn't ready yet. She was starting to wonder what the consequences of their trip to this universe would be and seeing herself and the other Barry together, staying under the same roof, knowing they were married…

"Yeah, that was a little unexpected. Then again we did end up in their bedroom on a Friday night and they are married," Barry stated, trying not to think about it himself. "But hey, at least they trust us already, and you're getting on well with that dog." The soft growling could still be heard as Kara didn't let up and Krypto remained enraptured.

Kara chuckled. "Do you think we could take a hair of his and visit Duplicate?"

"I wouldn't trust her," Barry shook his head sadly. "I think she experimented on animals first but even so… and who knows what Cisco's done to her powers since."

"Cisco can be a little scary at times." Kara nodded, Barry chuckling now as she grabbed a fork. "Recon my double would mind if I gave her dog some cake?"

"Go ahead," Kara Allen had come back from her room, having made some calls to her employees at STAR – Prime Kara had heard even if she did ignore it.

"Beds are made," Barry-Red returned from the spare room, eyeing the cake the other couple were eating but saying nothing as he added. "I dunno if you wear pyjamas, but I left my old ones on the couch for you, Barry-White-2, and Kara's spare are on the couch-bed for you… err?"

"On Earth-3 that Kara and I identified each other with our different last names." Prime Kara spoke up, knowing what Barry-Red wanted to know.

"You've been to more Earths?" Kara Allen looked shocked at this.

"Yeah. It's a long story but she was Danvers. Were you Danvers as well?" Kara Wells suddenly asked.

"I was," Kara Allen said. "Before I married Barry. I'm Allen now."

"Of course," Kara Wells grinned, liking the sound of that but not commenting further as she connected some dots for this Kara now. "So, Alex is your big sister too?" she finally continued.

"Yes," Kara said, a curious tone to her word.

"Well, when she's not drinking," Barry-Red jumped in and Kara Wells had the impression the two were talking again without speaking.

"I'm sorry, what?" Kara Wells asked, not sure what was going on.

"It's nothing. Alex had a drinking problem. Been sober for years but when she was drinking…. Well, she wasn't so nice to me. It's all funny now, on reflection" Kara Allen said and Kara Wells nodded. She hadn't heard anything about a drinking problem from her Alex and wondered if she even had one or if it was just different here. Maybe Kara's influence on her life so young had led to it, like on Earth-3, meaning it wouldn't have happened without her on her home Earth. It was strange, thinking about it.

"If I remember from your Jesse correctly, you should go by…?" Kara Allen went back on topic.

"Wells." Kara Wells confirmed. "Kara Wells."

"Ah yeah, 'cos of Jesse." Barry-Red nodded. "That's still weird, knowing there's a good Harrison Wells out there."

"Technically no Harrison Wells was bad., Kara Wells defended her adopted father "it was just Eobard Thawne taking his life and face. Well, it was on our Earth anyway."

"Same here." Kara Allen now added in thought. "But it was Harrison Wells whose name got dragged through the mud here regardless. He got ousted as the Reverse-Flash and everyone knows he set off the Particle Accelerator on purpose. Most hated man in the world. I'm serious. That's what he was called. Although it was kind of easy to manipulate the media into putting STAR labs into a good light when we took over."

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Kara Wells spoke up, having been curious on that and wanting to move on from a touchy subject for her.

"Long story there too," Kara Allen continued, although obviously relishing in telling them. "But the short of it is, Fake-Wells left Barry STAR Labs, then together we decided to revitalize the place. I'm the media liaison and manager for the Labs and Barry comes around to keep everyone in their place."

"How's that working out for you?" Kara Wells asked as her Barry watched the conversation in thoughtful silence.

"Really well," Barry-Red spoke up, he glancing to his Kara as Prime Kara had that odd sensation that they were talking without speaking again before Kara Allen gave a sigh.

"You should try it. You'll see how it is for us if you do," Kara Allen now stated.

"We already rent some space out for ARGUS," Prime Kara thought.

"ARGUS?" The Kara and Barry of this world said together.

"It's a government agency that mostly deals with meta-humans," Kara Wells said. "You haven't had contact with them?"

"The DEO expanded to take care of metas," Kara Allen stated.

"Oh. Well anyway, there's a lot more space to revitalize. I take it the Labs are open to the public? I could talk to my dad about how he runs his one on his Earth…"

"Okay, enough talk," Prime Barry suddenly spoke up; he was still a little resistant to bringing the Labs back from the brink it had been perched on for a few years now, especially since it was left to him by his mother's killer. It was safe to say he had mixed feelings about the place and he wasn't quite ready to let that go. He stood as he headed over to the room the other Barry had indicated was the spare room and Kara looked apologetically between the couple.

"It's fine," Barry-Red muttered. "I get it. I had bad feelings about the place once I found out about Thawne… If it wasn't for Kara…" he reached for his Kara's hand and gave it a squeeze, Prime Kara knowing what that meant.

"Cat Grant's been trying to bring the place back on her lonesome – I think it's inevitable on our Earth either way," Kara Wells responded. "I think I'll retire to bed too now. Thank you both for being so understanding. I'll leave Cisco's weird device here if you guys want to have a closer look at it, but try not to break it. Did you say Krypto was to 'guard' us tonight?"

"Yes I did," Kara Allen responded to the last bit first before adding. "And it's hard not to trust ourselves, although when you know people from the future can steal anyone's faces such as Fake-Wells… Well, anyway. Krypto!" The dog suddenly stood to attention, having been half-asleep due to Prime Kara's fuss. "Guard" Kara Allen indicated her double and the dog barked happily.

"Something tells me he won't be doing much guarding tonight after that petting," Barry-Red smirked as Prime Kara laughed.

"Good night… Karry," she couldn't help herself as the pair looked to one another in surprise and she moved into the room her Barry was in, Krypto at her heel.

Barry was sitting on the couch, in nothing but trouser pants as he looked to the floor. He looked up, however, when Kara entered the room and closed the door behind herself and the dog. Barry smirked at the appearance of the dog as Kara moved over to the already set-up sofa bed. "You okay?" she asked as she sat opposite him.

"Yeah. It's just… STAR was the Reverse-Flash's. It's okay as Team Power-Flash's base but to reopen it?" He asked, generally concerned. "I don't know how they could do it."

"Leave it for tonight," Kara changed into the pyjamas waiting for her and chuckled that they were identical to the ones she had back at STAR on their Earth. "Tomorrow you'll see what those two," she indicated to the door "have done with the place. It's not like you _have_ to follow in their model. With ARGUS in place STAR Labs will make enough income to keep yourself, Caitlin and Cisco well in pocket."

"True, but a little extra wouldn't go amiss," Barry admitted as he lay back on the couch and turned his head to look at Kara, who slipped into the sheets, Krypto jumping on to the bed next to her. "Wow, that dog's really taken a shine to you," he added with a small smile.

"Do you think my other self would notice if I stole him when we went back?" Kara couldn't help but joke, but Krypto barked softly at this before Barry could reply. "Okay, okay" Kara now added, stroking the dog's back as he lay over her stomach – she could barely feel the weight, even if they were both super powered by the sun. "You'll notice" she added to the animal in a silly voice as the dog yawned, moved to lick her hand peacefully before allowing her to stroke him some more. It seemed even though the dog liked her, he would never leave his true mistress on this Earth. Kara Wells couldn't blame him. "And aren't you meant to be guarding us?" she added more seriously to the dog as Barry chuckled again. Krypto barked at that.

She moved her head to look away from Barry and noticed the picture frame on the table beside. It contained the image of a handsome man, a pretty woman and two young children. "Oh wow," she now muttered.

"What is it?" Barry asked from the couch, concerned.

"Kal. He has a family on this Earth," Kara awkwardly reached to pick up the framed image with her free hand to look more closely at it.

"Kal?" Barry yawned.

"My little cousin. Only he's my big cousin now with the whole Phantom Zone thing. He goes by Clark on Earth-3. Probably the same here too. Huh. Good on him. Shame he doesn't exist on our world. I'd love to have my big cousin around. Wish I could meet his kids." She fell into thoughtful silence as gentle snoring could be heard coming from Barry already.

She smiled as she put the picture back, resumed her stroking of the dog's back as memories of her cousin and the life back on Krypton flooded back to the surface of her mind. She drifted off soon after.

-SuperPowerFlash-

It was the next morning when the two Barrys and the two Kara, and the dog, went to STAR Labs. It was strange for Barry especially; not only seeing the place in full-refurbishment from the outside, but also the use of a new 'back door' that his doubled accessed by form of handprint analysis and a physical code. Prime Kara remained interested but as she hadn't known their STAR Labs for more than two months, it played little effect on her to see the place in full working order.

It was more unusual, however, when they came face to face with some of their regulars, who took in Prime Kara and Barry's appearance with shock, but greeted their own with pleasantries. Although for a fully-functioning STAR Labs, it was unusual to see only three employees and definitely odd not to see either of the Wells'. That alone made Prime Kara realise how different this universe truly was.

"Only three employees?" Kara Wells had to question.

"Actually two," Kara Allen said. "Winn doesn't work here. What are you doing here anyway?" Kara Allen nodded to Winn. She obviously hadn't called him, and Kara Wells couldn't recall overhearing any conversation with Winn last night while she had been discussing things over cake with her Barry.

"Cisco told me there were more world jumpers and I was not missing it this time," Winn said.

Kara Allen chuckled as she turned back to her double. "But this is our SuperFlash team and our SuperFlash cave. Other employees are probably in the main labs working. Although it is a Saturday – they're more optional days, obviously."

After that they went into explanation on why the two new Earth hoppers were there. Cisco, Caitlin and Winn though were intrigued by the explanation their Kara gave them of what she knew of the 'Earth jumpers' before handing over the rest of the explanation to Prime Barry. Well, mainly that of what their Cisco had made while Prime Kara produced the device from her belt pocket once more.

"It allows my Cisco to get a clearer picture of this world," Prime Barry explained, "he wouldn't have even realised the damage if it wasn't for Jesse and Wally visiting this place."

There was a rush of air as the 'back door' was opened once more and all eyes turned to see a young girl, barely fourteen years old and a familiar, slightly tanned, dark-haired woman with kind, dark hazel eyes entering after her. The girl was in casual clothing but the woman wore an outfit that had bells ringing in Prime Barry's head as he gaped at her, dots connecting very quickly in his brain before he pointed at the woman. "It's you!"

"What is going on here?" she responded, looking between the two Barrys and the two Karas with intrigue as the blond girl ran up to Kara Allen, looking to Prime Kara with confusion herself.

"We have some more Earth jumpers," Barry-Red explained to the woman. "Diana, this is… Barry-White-Two and Kara Wells."

"Kara Wells?" the girl asked, looking to said Kara.

"You look like me," Kara Wells couldn't help but remark, looking at the girl as she somewhat crouched to get on eye-level.

"I'm a clone of her," the girl responded, a little bluntly as she pointed to her Kara. "But I'm called Karen, not Kara."

"You're a clone?" Prime Kara looked to her double who cocked her head, looking suddenly defensive. "I'm a clone too."

"You are?" This was Kara Allen, who sounded shocked as all eyes turned to Prime Kara.

"Yeah. My Barry Earth hopped to another world that had a Kara Danvers on and brought back a hair – this meta called Duplicate cloned me from that hair."

"No way!" This was Karen who seemed to get excited. "I bet anything that that meta-human was called Copycat here! She did the same thing with Kara and I came about as a result. She died though, Copycat I mean." Karen looked almost sad at this. Prime Kara understood the emotion, that Karen would never able to truly found out what made her without her clone-making creator.

"Because she couldn't clone me," Kara Allen said, somewhat confused. "Not properly at least. It gave her a heart attack and we ended up with this midget here." Kara Allen messed up Karen hair as she talked. Karen laughed at that.

Barry wanted to respond by telling them how lucky they were that their version of Duplicate had died, the shock of finding out about the clone of this world enough of a shocker in itself to deter him from his Diana-revelation, but kept his mouth shut as the warrior woman looked between the pair with polite interest.

"Well, she survived my creation but couldn't keep hold of me. We have our Copycat in STAR Labs on our Earth," Prime Kara stated politely to her little double, who seemed to come out of her shell now she and Kara had come to bond on some solid ground, other than their identical looks.

"Hey doesn't that make you Karen's double and not Kara's?" Caitlin asked, making eyes turned to her now as she shrugged. "Well, it makes sense." Kara Wells thought for a moment before nodding. This Caitlin was right. Technically she was not her Earth's double of Kara Zor-El. That one was on Krypton in their universe. She was Karen's double.

"Cool. I bet your STAR Labs isn't as awesome as this one though. Carter and me love coming here. Kara lets us looks at all experiments, even the ones that are secret from the public. We even got to play around with the hover technology STAR is creating. Not as fun as flying, but Carter finds it awesome. Can I show you around?" Karen looked hopeful between the two adult Karas now.

"As long as you don't go too far. Kara Wells here has a job to do, but as long as she doesn't mind I don't see why not," Kara Allen stated, glancing to her double to see if she was okay with this arrangement. "Krypto, go with them." She now added to the dog, who had been relaxing in his STAR Labs dog basket, who stood to attention, barked politely and then moved over to Karen's side.

Karen smiled at the dog and gave him a pet. "Isn't Krypto so awesome?" Karen said. "I love being able to play with a dog without hurting him."

"Me too," Kara Wells said with a smile. "You go by Karen?" Kara Wells asked and Karen nodded. "How strange. That's what Cat Grant calls me." She turned to look at her Barry "Mind if I take the tour?"

"There's not much more for us to say anyway," Prime Barry stepped in, giving his Kara a knowing look as he nodded. "I think you'll like to see the place. Take notes," he added in a smaller whisper.

Before Prime Kara could react to this, Karen had grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the group, laughing nonetheless, Krypto totting at their heels as Kara Allen smirked and turned to Diana Prince. "Training finished early then?"

"Karen's a bright young girl. She suspected something was happening so cut it short to visit you and your husband – it seemed she was right."

"I swear I wasn't as smart as that when I was her age," Kara Allen joked.

"Tell me, Barry-2," Diana suddenly turned her attention to Prime Barry, who smirked at the '2' but didn't complain – this wasn't his world; the Barry of this world deserved to be '1' after all. "What did you mean by addressing me as 'It's you', earlier?"

"Oh," Barry's hand found the nape of his neck, embarrassed by his outburst now as he nevertheless explained his actions. "I visited another Earth a couple of months ago now and briefly came across your superhero double. Not soon after I came across my Earth's version of you in her human alter-ego and couldn't put the two together… I wonder if my Earth's version is the same though?"

"Almost definitely, Mr. Allen. I brought to life by Zeus after all. I doubt there is anyone more unique than me away from my Island."

"Right…" Prime Barry muttered, the others looking intrigued to her. Obviously she had never revealed his detail about her life before, although with an alien superhero and super-powered humans, the concept of this origin shouldn't have been too far-fetched. "And what do you go by here?" Prime Barry now asked, remembering the two names she seemed to have on Earth-3 thanks to Cat Grant and Perry White.

"They call me Wonder Woman," Diana confirmed.

"I always preferred that" Barry mused; now looking the woman over before a cough came from behind him. He turned to see Cisco impatiently looking over at him, the device in his hand. "Oh right. Yeah," Prime Barry moved back over to Cisco, about to go into a further explanation when warning klaxons suddenly sounded.

Barry-Red and Kara Allen were in their outfits before the third siren sounded as Cisco and Winn moved over to the computers. "We have an intruder. They're in Martin's lab." Cisco now informed the pair, both nodding before vanishing out of the Cortex. Prime Barry didn't take a moment more as he followed them, taking in the Labs too and noticing all the differences – the Cortex was in a more secret, separate bit while the rest of the labs were revitalised, laid out slightly differently and more public. It reminded him of that time he and his Cisco had visited Earth-2 and seen that version of STAR Labs.

By the time he reached Stein's lab, a rising feeling of worry in the pit of his stomach when he remembered his Kara had gone off into the rest of the Labs before the alert, it was to find Kara Allen freeing Karen from some chains. This confused him as Kara used her laser vision to free her mini-clone as Karen explained in a quick voice: "He came out of nowhere – grabbed Kara and Krypto before I could even go to help them and then these chains were on me! I'm sorry Kara… I think he was after you but got her." Karen's eyes fell on the Prime Barry, who had been in his Flash outfit since leaving his wedded double's apartment, as he realised what this meant.

"Some chain wielding maniac has my dog and my double?" Kara asked, glancing to her Barry as she added: "I'll kill him!"

"First we need to find out who he is," Barry-Red reasoned, noticing the red on his chest symbol, instantly understanding the whole Barry-Red and Barry-White thing. They were talking about the background colours of their symbols. It was lucky Barry-Red hadn't changed his yet then. "Could be something to do with the release of the Kryptonian army?"

"Kryptonian army?" Prime Barry asked, the pit of his stomach falling away now as his and Kara's double said nothing, simply moving passed him to head back to the cortex. "Did I miss something?" he now added.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Karen remarked, shaking herself off. "Kara and Barry have this… bond thing. I think it's something Kryptonian. They can talk to each other through it while the rest of us are left in the dark. It gets kind of annoying, but you learn to live with it."

"Oh…" Barry didn't quite know what to say to this, so instead simply followed the pair, Karen at his heel, back to the Cortex, where Cisco was already talking to someone on the computer.

"Chains? He was after Kara?" the dark-haired, pale woman spoke, "Karen! I'm glad you're safe." She added when Karen entered the lab and was viewable on the camera.

"I'm fine, mom, it's just Krypto and the other Kara – did they tell you she's a clone like me?" Karen asked, ignoring the dangers and focussing on the facts that made her happy.

"Mom?" Prime Barry asked Karen, unaware of any other female Kryptonians here beyond Kara herself.

"My aunt Astra," Kara Allen informed him quickly, "she adopted Karen after her creation since she missed out on raising me here on Earth."

"Why couldn't she raise you?" Prime Barry couldn't help but ask, curious.

"Because her and her husband were making a Kryptonian army to control Earth, but Aunt Astra turned her back on them," Kara Allen stated quickly, obviously wanting to hurry this up.

"The same army that's now on the loose?" Barry asked, still lost.

"Brainiac 8 released them from the base at the DEO," Astra now spoke up on the monitor. "But that's beside the point. I think I know who has your Kara and Krypto and I think I know why."

The image of a man in armour popped up in the corner of the screen, she having sent the image from her base at the DEO, "His name is Carl Draper, or at least he goes by that on Earth. He's a Trombusan who went by the alias of 'Master Jailer' when he was a guard at Fort Rozz before all the prisoners were relocated to the DEO. He took up a position as guard here while they were locked up but vanished after their untimely release. Your best bet is to pick up his bio signs, Cisco. We haven't bothered as he's what you would call a 'good guy' so possibly couldn't do harm upon his vanishing, but if he's taken the other Kara…"

"Got it," Cisco stated. "What do you want us to do with him when Supergirl and the Flash catch him?"

"Bring him back to the DEO. He's our responsibility," Astra told them.

"See you soon then," Kara Allen stated, still a little distracted.

"Oh, Diana," Astra suddenly stated to Wonder Woman. "Keep an eye on Karen, please."

"Mom! I do have super powers," Karen stated, a bit annoyed.

"Which you are still learning to use," Astra retorted back, "so until Master Jailer is caught, Diana calls the shots." She broke the connection, Karen looking annoyed as Prime Barry moved over to Cisco.

"You have tech to track down alien DNA?" He asked, impressed and worried.

"Tune in his earpiece to our frequency," Kara Allen suddenly stated. "Like you did with Jesse and Wally – I have a feeling Barry-White-2 here will be of help."

Prime Barry passed over his earpiece, which Cisco handed to Winn as the main techno geek searched for a Trombusan signature. Prime Barry looked over to his double, realising he must have been in some sort of telepathic conference with his Kara, as Karen had described, before Cisco drew Barry's attention back. "So, your Cisco… he's a meta?"

"Erm yeah, Jesse said you weren't." He didn't know what else to say.

"That's kind of freaky. Knowing that," Cisco stated. "But it seems like his meta-ness disrupted his ability to name things. Why did he call H2-No 'Hydroman'?"

"Still hung up on that? My Cisco's still wondering why you called him H2-No," Barry quipped, but Cisco just snorted. He was about to reply once more when the computer binged. "Found him!"

Kara Allen and Barry-Red were by Cisco in no time. "Outside National? Makes sense" Kara Allen reasoned. "It seemed a lot of Astra's plans originated around National City, so Master Jailer wouldn't have gone far."

Prime Barry studied the map Cisco had pulled up, tracing routes to and from Central City to National City, and wasted no time in claiming his earpiece out of Winn's grip, before taking the route. He was gone even before this Earth's Kara and Barry could follow. Winn had at least tuned the frequency right as he heard Cisco in his ear: "Should have waited for our Kara and Barry first. They sort of have a routine for this."

"Sorry Cisco, but this is my Kara your Master Jailer has taken…" Barry called back, coming to a stop in front of a rundown log cabin. "And are you sure this is the place?"

"It was his last location. Hang on…" Cisco went quite for a moment, there was a rush of air and then Barry was no longer alone. Barry-Red was suddenly by his side.

"You should have waited," the Red-Flash stated.

"Yeah, your Cisco said…" Prime Barry muttered, again not waiting as he moved into the log cabin, looking around. "There's something wrong with your sensors… this is nothing. No sign of this Master Jailer freak, or my Kara or your Krypto."

"Superdog," Barry-Red corrected.

"Huh?" Prime Barry looked to his double in the doorway.

"When he's on a mission with us, we call him Superdog. Cat Grant made it up."

"Oh. You don't say…" Prime Barry muttered, a little lost for words until he heard a howl. It came from below them. Both Barrys looked downward to the floor.

"I don't know what it's like on your Earth, but I'm sure glowing dirt isn't a thing on this one" Barry-Red stated as he and Prime Barry both dropped to the floor, Prime Barry wasting no time in ripping up a floorboard to find what looked like a cavern below, with some sort of space ship located within.

"You don't see that every day," Kara Allen had turned up, causing Prime Barry to jump, not used to her being so quiet as her Barry pulled Prime Barry out of the way, just in time as Kara punched in the rest of the floorboards, causing the whole structure the shake and collapse inward.

Once the dust had settled, both Barrys moved in and downward themselves, Kara having already gone ahead to find her punching the side of the small ship, buckling the metal to breaking point before pulling the rest of it down and out, creating a small doorway into the thing. She didn't waste time as she jumped forward at the armoured figure within, shouting, "You do _not_ take my dog!"

A metallic clinking sound met this battle cry and before Supergirl could even move, she was tied up with metal chains, a red light on her as the Master Jailer, a blond man in thick armour turned to face her. "Three Kara Zor-Els?" He asked, amazed as he glanced to a cage holding Prime Kara under red light, Superdog in a smaller red lit cage next to her. Both Barrys remained outside the ship, looking in through the hole Kara had made. "I knew about Astra's clone daughter – she was off-limits – but I never realised Alura had twin daughters…"

"We're not twins," Supergirl stated, "but she's not another clone… well, not exactly. What have you done?"

"Red sunlight," her double responded before Master Jailer could explain himself. "We're weak. Human at the moment. We need the yellow sunlight…" she had spotted the flash of red at the entrance her double had created. If both Barrys were here, they would know what to do.

"Ugh, stealing our tricks," Kara Allen said, Wells realizing this Kara had never been under red sunlight before. She had a lot to learn, despite her obvious advancements elsewhere.

"Smart girl," Jailer nodded to Wells. "And I did not steal your tricks. Just because the DEO uses it doesn't mean I did not think of it."

"Why do this to her? To us?" Kara Allen now asked, trying to free herself of the chains, but unable to under the influence of her home sunlight.

"My prisoners escaped and you lot did nothing! You left it to me to find and gather them up and so I will do. Your deaths will be a message to those at the DEO not to put these matters on the back burner. Astra In-Ze and Hank Henshaw will learn from their mistakes." He sounded full of himself.

"I put them there in the first place," Kara Allen shouted back, annoyed.

Before they could say any more, however, Jailer went flying. The red crested Barry had acted, running through the gap and hitting the Trombusan around the jaw, the impact forcing him against the wall as Prime Barry ran over to free his Kara.

"You need to break the light," Prime Kara instructed Barry, he remembering the events of the other week when Malcolm Merlyn had done the same thing to Kara, but was easy able to phase through the bars as he wasn't locked up too like then, joining his Kara in the intimate space before turning his attention to the light above. It was high up, so Kara couldn't reach it, but with two in the cage…

"Give me a shimmy up" Barry asked his Kara as his double continued to fight the Master Jailer. Barry was stunned as Barry-Red used some type of feet tornado, a little like the Red Tornado but not, to shoot himself up and break the red sunlight above his Kara. Kara Allen had then freed herself and joined the fight "I got to learn that one." Barry mumbled to himself as Kara cupped her hands, Barry using it this to reach up and gain distance to the light. "This is so dangerous…" Barry muttered as he threw a punch at the light in the tall cage, knowing that it was unlikely for him to get electrocuted as he knocked the light out, showering himself and Kara with glass – luckily they were both in their superhero outfits, so the damage was minimal.

Realising that her powers weren't so easy to restore after longer exposure to the red sunlight, Kara triple-tapped her House of El symbol, as instructed from her Cisco and felt the rush of power the stored solar energy provided, Power Girl easily able to break free of the cage after that, and help her double take down her capturer.

Prime Barry, realising Krypto was still in lock up, wasted no time himself in freeing the dog, who didn't seem to need to power up as he went straight in for the attack, biting the Master Jailer in the leg while he struggled against two Karas and a Flash. Prime Barry decided not to go in to help as he instead watched the fight, impressed. After a moment, when Jailer seemed down, Kara Allen held out a hand to her dog who backed off. Barry-Red put a hand on Kara Wells, indicating for her to back off and Kara Wells did, confused. The three came to stand by Prime Barry as Kara Allen looked down at the Jailer.

Jailer went to kick but he was weakened and Kara easily caught his foot. She then leaned down and picked Jailer up, anger in her eyes. "You were a DEO employee and you betrayed us," Kara Allen threw Jailer against the wall. "And over something we had no control over! Instead of waiting for us to find the prisoners, you decide to kill me, but what makes me madder is that you took my dog." Kara punched the Master Jailer, still against the wall. "No one messes with my dog!" Kara punched again before taking the Jailer's own chains and tying him up with them.

"She's a bit overprotective of this dog," Prime Barry said in shock and amazement as Krypto barked.

"Krypto is the only thing that got her through my coma," Barry-Red answered softly, with a smile as his Kara picked up Master Jailer, ready to fly back to the DEO to hand him over.

"How long have you two been together?" Prime Barry asked amazed. He had had his speed-force coma nearing three years ago now.

"First day of college freshmen year," the two answered together, smiling at each other before leaving the ship. Krypto barked and followed fast.

Prime Barry looked at this Kara. "Don't even think about trying to take Krypto. That Kara will find a way to our world to get him back and beat us up," Prime Barry said quickly, and Kara Wells couldn't help but laugh as they went to followed, heading for the DEO.

-PowerFlash-

It was ten minutes later when the two Flashes, Supergirl, Power Girl and Master Jailer arrived at the DEO. Prime Kara had been let in on what to expect at the place, but seeing her Aunt Astra waiting for them, alive and well was a bit of a shocker. She remembered from the memories of the other Kara Danvers the death of Astra. Alex and J'onn's betrayal. But it didn't feel real, like the hologram of her own mother. Even so, it was strange, her aunt alive and well.

In fact, the whole of the DEO facility was a like an echo from a past that didn't belong to her. It was exactly the same as the Earth-3 place, even with Hank Henshaw and Alex Danvers, although the familiar blond lounging around wasn't someone she ever thought to associate with the Department for Extranormal Operations.

"Sara?" Prime Barry voiced as Astra and Hank Henshaw dragged a rather subdued Draper out toward the cells. They were true to their word – he was their responsibility, and locking him up seemed to be the only solution at the moment. Maybe when they brought in the escaped Kryptonian army again things would be different for Draper, although Barry felt he deserved what he got for kidnapping his girlfriend, Krypto and trapping the young Karen too.

"I'm totally seeing double," Sara Lance replied, jumping from her seat to see the two Barrys and Karas. This was obviously her first experience with doubles from other universes. "More Earth jumpers? They're getting common. Nice hair," she nodded to Kara Wells at this.

"Thanks," Wells replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here." Sara replied simply.

"You're a DEO agent?" Prime Barry asked, never thinking that Sara Lance could become a government agent.

"Not exactly. I train new agents in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. I am also a consultant. Sort of. Kara – our Kara that is," she indicated Kara Allen, who had moved off with her Barry and was now in conversation with her returned aunt, "seems to prefer Central City these days, so the White Canary does the rounds in National now. Not that there's much action around the place at the moment. Was expecting some hell with the breakout here, but Brainiac 8 must have other plans…"

"Who is Brainiac 8?" Prime Barry couldn't help but ask, having heard the name earlier from Astra.

"Some maniac with big plans and sick computer skills," Sara replied with a shrug.

"It sounds familiar," Kara Wells said, a ghost of a memory from Kara Danvers trying to work it way up but just out of reach.

"She was a prisoner at Fort Rozz," Alex had joined them. Although she was obviously the same as the Alex they knew, her hair was shoulder-length-short, like Prime Kara's and there were no blonde highlights. The short hair suited her though, and Barry was impressed by the look. "She was planning the break out for a long while. Even struck Disney World as a test run."

"Oh, I want to go to Disney," Kara Wells suddenly said, wistfully, causing Alex and Sara to laugh.

"Those two honeymooned there," Sara indicated the Kara and Barry of her world. "So keep that in mind, Allen." She winked at Prime Barry, who felt a little taken aback as she and Alex moved off, grabbing each other's hands as they headed to the cells.

"They're together here too?" Prime Barry asked his Kara who smirked.

"Maybe we could do Disney as an anniversary date?" She stated, still thinking of the place she had never been to. "Maybe my one-year anniversary creation day…"

"Isn't that just a birthday?" Barry turned his attention back to his Kara.

"Sort of. I like to celebrate my birthday the same day as Earth-3's Kara, even though I technically wasn't born…" Kara verbalised.

"You two ready?" Astra had moved over to the pair and Kara had her first proper look at her other world aunt. It felt almost like she was facing the hologram of her mother, although this one was real. Flesh, blood and Kryptonian. She grinned at the woman in spite of herself. "I'm sorry for what Draper put you through, Miss… Wells? I honestly didn't expect him to turn on his own kind."

"His own kind? I thought he was Trombusan, not Kryptonian?" Prime Barry asked.

"He was hired on to work as a guard to the Kryptonian prison ship. He and his father before him – generations, actually. It was a family trade and with the prison gone he was then hired here at the DEO. He was one of our own, I never expected…" Astra sounded apologetic.

"Well the sooner you get this allusive Kryptonian army the better," Prime Kara spoke up, wasting no time in giving her aunt a tight squeeze, which surprised the other woman until she shouted in pain. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, I thought…?" Kara pulled out of the hug.

"It's okay. It happens sometimes. Red Sun bracelet," she indicated to the small thing on her wrist, "I'm still a criminal in the eyes of the government, so this sort of keeps me in check by being human."

"That's not right," Prime Barry cut in, saddened for the aunt.

"It's fine. I never had powers on Krypton so it makes me feel more… normal." She smiled happily at the version of her niece before holding out her arms. "Come on. Just be gentle." Kara Wells smiled as she hugged her aunt once more, the same way she would for the humans she loved. Holding onto her aunt like this brought back the memory of Krypton and of Astra death on Earth-3. Tears escaped her eyes at this and Astra wiped them away after the hug was over. "What's wrong?" Astra asked confused at this reaction.

"Nothing. Sorry. I'm just glad you survived here, Aunt Astra," Kara Wells said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you aunt."

"It's good," Astra said. "No matter the world, any version of Kara is my niece."

"You know it seems a lot of people managed to survive here." Prime Barry said, and at that moment the Kara and Barry of this world came up to the trio, Krypto trotting happily by his mistress' side. "How do you do it?" That confused the pair, but they didn't have time to answer as Prime Kara dropped to her knees.

"Who's a good boy?" Prime Kara suddenly said in a soppy soft as she went to pet the dog, the other Kara and Astra laughing at Prime Kara's love of the Kryptonian dog. "He was great against Master Jailer" she informed the others, looking up at them. "Both before, and after the kidnapping. Someone deserves a bone or something," She scratched the dog's belly before the other Kara gave a little cough.

"You better hold yourself to your word." Kara Allen said with a smile.

"I'm serious though. How do you do it?" Prime Barry asked his double now, wanting to know and not letting this go so easily.

"Do what?" Barry-Red asked.

"Not lose people. Astra's alive. Eddie and Ronnie are both alive here from evidence of the photos Jesse brought back, but you did deal with Thawne. How did you defeat him without losing them?" Prime Barry asked. He had gone over that so many times in his head since seeing the images, wondering what he could have done differently and came up blank, but this world had saved them. He had to know how.

"Well Aunt Astra just switched sides," Kara Allen said.

"That probably would have happened on Earth-3 eventually," Kara Wells mumbled, still petting Krypto and not wanting to think of that outcome.

"And as for Ronnie and Eddie, well our first world jumper Barry-White warned us about Thawne so we managed to take him by surprise. Formed the Justice League to take him down." Barry-Red answered.

"It's on YouTube if you want to see." Kara Allen suddenly said, making the pair look at her. "People don't put away their phones and run when they should. It's kind of annoying, but helped Cat immensely on her cover story. Anyway, we need to head back to STAR. Cisco's looked through that device and he believes it's safe. Oh, and Karen has a surprise for you apparently, Kara." Mrs. Allen was smirking now as Kara Wells raised an eyebrow.

-SuperPowerFlash-

"Since you can't have a Kryptonian dog of your own, Cisco and I wanted to give you this." Karen was waiting for the foursome to arrive and didn't waste a moment in presenting Kara Wells with an almost life-sized toy of Krypto. "It's been toughed so you can pet it and play with it without ruining it – that's one of Cisco's specialities, especially for toys for Krypto himself" Karen patted the real dog on the head.

"Aww thank you," Kara Wells grinned, liking the toy and its realistic appearance to the dog it was based from – the only difference was the small Superdog outfit the toy was wearing. Krypto never had the chance to have his put on today, but at least Kara knew what it would look like on him. It was cute.

"Mind if we have pictures?" Karen suddenly asked. "One of you, me and the two Kryptos" Karen really had grown a fondness for Kara Wells in this short time, and the Prime Kara couldn't help but laugh appreciatively as Cisco then suggested another photo of the four superheroes together.

"What's with the outfit?" Cisco finally asked Kara Wells, indicating her white and blue one. He looked at the ensemble with a strange appreciation. Could he actually like what his Prime double had created?

"Yeah, you never explained that," Kara Allen added.

"My Cisco came up with it. I wanted to look different to the Supergirls we've known and boy did that happen – Cat Grant even dubbed me Power Girl," Kara told the group.

"Power Girl?" Kara Allen pulled a face, but Karen looked intrigued by this, not saying anything herself, however.

"All to their own I suppose. Although I want to meet your Cisco one day – tell him where he can make improvements in life," Cisco half-joked as Kara Wells, Karen and Krypto posed with the toy for a photo.

After the two Flashes had posed with Supergirl and Power Girl, Prime Barry moved on to the device. His Cisco hadn't told them much about it, but he knew how to activate it, and then his Cisco would know to activate a breach when it was turned on – as his Vibe goggles would be alerted to the fact.

"You may want to store this some place safe," Prime Barry added in after-thought, handing the thing, which resembled an old-fashion flip phone now with a glowing small screen on the lid, to this Cisco.

"I know just the place," Cisco stated, moving off and leaving the Cortex.

"I hope you come back!" Karen suddenly spoke to Kara Wells. "I love my Kara obviously. She's the best big sister I could ask for," Kara Allen raised an eyebrow at this, but let her little clone continue, "but I've never met another clone of me. We have so much more to say and do."

"We have all the time in the world," Kara Wells stated, hugging the teenager just as the room began to fill with blue light – a portal had opened.

"Pictures!" Winn presented the pair with the two photos, uploaded into their computer systems and printed off for the Prime pair. Kara claimed them to look over in the ethereal glow and grinned at Karen and Krypto's poses in the picture with just her.

"Oh and I heard you wanted to see the ideos of Reverse-Flash takedown," Caitlin said, pulling out a DVD. "My favourite ones are on this. One person set it to Eye of the Tiger which was interesting to say the list." Prime Barry took the DVD. He had to look this over and see what could have been done differently.

Krypto himself came up to Kara Wells, whining as he realised what was going on. Kara got to her knees again as she gave the dog another stoke on his head. "Make sure you give him that bone I promised?" She asked her double who nodded with a grin.

Kara Wells stood up now, rolling the images to put up her sleeve as the pair said a goodbye to all. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.

-PowerFlash-

Harry, Jesse, Stein and Cisco were waiting for Kara and Barry to return. Caitlin and Ray didn't want to be about on a weekend, or they just didn't want more information about the world where Ronnie lived, so had left things in the foursome's capable hands. Cisco had managed to vibe for his superheroes since they had gone, but like with Jesse and Wally, the images were foggy and unclear. He wasn't even sure they would come back until Sunday, which was why he had purposefully made this a weekend trip. Although it meant he couldn't go away until his multiverse setup was achieved.

He was surprised, therefore, when his vibe goggles alerted him on the Saturday afternoon, to the activation of his Multiverse Enhancer's activation in the Karry Universe. Jumping to attention, he alerted the others before focussing on opening a breach that proved a lot easier than before to this world.

A minute later and Power Girl and the Flash sped into the room, Cisco closing the breach as the pair looked around, sighing before smirking at each other. Kara even had with her a toy dog!

"Well?" Jesse asked, moving up to them, glancing at the stuffed animal.

Kara responded by removing the two pictures from her sleeve. "It was nice. Their Kara and Barry were cool – not as cool as us obviously." She gave Barry a wink as he scoffed at this.

"Oh, it's the dog! I see they gave you a version of him as a keepsake?" She took the toy off her sister and gave it a squeeze. "Made of tough stuff, this one."

"I love it," Kara said, taking the toy back and squeezing it tightly, happy that it didn't break. "I can hug and play with it and it won't break. That Cisco knows how to make them strong enough." Kara seemed like a little child, excited for a new toy… and in a way, she was.

"She and Krypto really formed a bond," Barry spoke up to Jesse. "I think we need to look into strong dogs for her." He smirked at Jesse now who grinned back.

"Maybe not one who hates men though," Jesse added, making Barry laugh.

As Kara and Jesse talked, Stein and Harry moved over to Cisco and Barry. "All go okay, Allen?" Harry asked.

"More or less. Kara seemed a little queasy when we landed but it went away pretty quickly. Oh, and she and that Kryptonian dog got kidnapped earlier." He indicated the toy dog Jesse was now holding on to. "The man was after their Kara but mistook ours for her. He was no match for Supergirl and two Flashes, so it's all good." He didn't want to go into details, especially on their arrival to the world.

"What was it like?" Stein asked Barry.

"Different," Barry reasoned. "An eye-opener in fact. Stuff to think about… So which Earth was it next week?" He didn't want to go into detail yet. The Karry Universe's use of STAR Labs really was the eye-opener he meant, and it have given him ideas to this place already, but that was something to focus on once they'd finished their multiverse jumping. Barry made sure to hide the DVD he was still holding. There was no reason for anyone else but him and Kara to know about this. They would watch the videos later.

"Earth-4, same time next week." Cisco grinned. "The one you went to before. Will be great to see what's happened since!"

"Super," Barry nodded, a small smirk on his face.

* * *

 _Next time…_

" _Since you and Kara seem insistent on calling this the 'Prime Earth' instead of just 'Earth-1'" Cisco replied, a little thoughtful, "does that mean we have to name every other Earth instead of just number them?"_

" _Not necessarily" Kara spoke up, "but it's a lot more fun this way."_

" _Fun?" Martin now spoke up, looking disapprovingly at Kara. "This is the exploration of unknown territories, not a night at the discotheque. Numbering makes it all a lot simpler and scientific than naming them like pets."_

" _So, have you come up with a name for Earth-4?" Barry asked, noticing Cisco actually roll his eyes at Stein for this remark. In spite of himself, he was keen to know what Cisco or even Jesse could have come up with. 'Karry Universe' was okay, but not amazing when it came to Cisco's skill of naming things. He suspected Jesse having influence on that one._

" _SuperEarth" Cisco couldn't help but grin to himself. Now it was Stein's turn to roll his eyes._

* * *

Post-chapter note 1: I hope everyone enjoyed my little venture into my Beta's story. It's the only time I'm going to do it (well not for this season of Power Girl anyway) so it's had extra-attention from CharmedMillie – Karry Master this time around. I also hope no-one's being put off by my world hopping, too? It won't last for more than four worlds (so we're one down already) or play too much into the rest of the season after Earth-6. It's just for fun really, so sit back and just enjoy the ride. SuperEarth next week…

Post chapter note 2: I was planning on doing this multiverse story over the course of two weeks (two chapters a week) but due to unforeseen circumstances I haven't been able to write a lot, making that idea impossible to put into action. So I apologise that you'll all have to wait until next Monday again for the next update. On the plus side, by the time I get to the finale, I see no harm in posting part one on the Friday and part two on the Monday! Oh, and I plan a proper visit to Star City, so… yeah, there's that too. Sigma Out!


	15. SuperEarth Revisited

Note: I apologize for leaving this so late. I didn't get the opportunity yesterday to go over the final Beta'ed submission for uploading and I've have had a very busy day today since the moment I woke that it's taken me this long to go through it now! Completely knackered now too so please excuse any simple mistakes below I (or my Beta) have missed out.

Dedication: I think this week I need to give a huge shout out to AutumnAgain. Multiverse hopping is one of this reviewer's favourite things, and I'm loving exploring it a little further here. Hey, who knows I may do an Earth hopping sequel in the future! Like Sliders, but for Karry… It's something I'm quite keen on exploring further at some point anyway.

Oh, and Mia, thanks for the title 'Captain Sigma' – I love it!

Episode 15 – SuperEarth Revisited.

Jesse, Kara and Harry stood in the middle on an empty apartment. Kara was excited, but Jesse was apprehensive. Harry remained neutral.

"This reminds me of the apartment my other self has on Earth-3!" Kara pointed out to her sister in a whisper while Harry spoke to the estate agent.

"But why do we need it?" Jesse asked back, biting her lip as her father moved away from the suited woman. She repeated this question to her dad while the agent left the apartment, to allow the family to get a good feel of the place.

"Because we can't go on living in STAR Labs, not now ARGUS have some of the place." He pointed out simply. "And I have a feeling it won't stay so dead for long. Not since last week." His comment was towards the Karry Universe. Since getting back, Kara and Barry had shared more of their experience there, including the fact that STAR labs had been reopened by that Earth's Kara and Barry and was doing well. Harry had seen their Barry thinking on the same lines since.

"We've been doing fine lately…" Jesse pouted still, clearly upset at this move.

"We can't live there forever, Jess." Harry stated, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"What about funds? It's not like you have a job on this Earth," Jesse now blurted out, before adding slightly apologetically, "Sorry, I shouldn't…"

"It's fine, Jess honestly. I'm still making money on our Earth, plenty of money actually and it's good here. We have the same monetary system. We need a base here, a home here, especially..."

"If we stay here?" Jesse added, her voice dropped. As much as she was acclimatizing to 'Prime Earth', she still had friends and other family on her home world. She still thought in her mind she would return someday. Especially now that it seemed she had no problem being on different Earths as her extended stay in Karry Universe had proven. She had lasted long there without any side effects, unlike her initial return to home.

"Well…" Harry's eyes moved to Kara, now looking out of the large windows to the city beyond. He didn't want to leave her again. Last time she was just a clone he had given his last name to, even if he had grown affectionate of her, but now she was an actual daughter he cared about and loved. "Kara's not likely to want to leave this Earth, I've got a steady flow of projects from this STAR Labs and you do have Wally."

"I do," Jesse pointed out. "But we still have a life on our home Earth. We can't just abandon it."

"I admit it's getting difficult to retain that life while living here, but I see a future on this Earth that our home just won't reach," Harry stated as Kara moved over to them. "You have to admit we have more here than we had there."

"Why two bedrooms?" This caught both Harry and Jesse by surprise as they looked to Kara in confusion. "There's three of us, why have all the places we've looked at this week have two bedrooms?"

Harry actually chuckled at this, also glad of the change of topic, although something he and Jesse would have to address soon in the future. "You and Jess are always away at the West house, I see no point in having a room that may barely get used. Besides, if you're both home then we can always have a sofa bed. Or you can share a room."

"So, are we getting this place?" Kara now asked. She really did like this apartment and honestly wasn't too thrilled living at STAR.

"It's a contender," Harry thought, just as the estate agent woman re-entered.

"We can discuss prices when you're ready, but I really see this as the best option for what you're looking for," she stated, mainly to Harry, "unless you want to reconsider a three-bedroom option?" She glanced at both Kara and Jesse at this.

"No, two bedrooms will be fine. We're looking to downsize anyway." Harry smiled.

"Well we can keep this offer up until Monday, so please consider this place quickly if you're going to go for it, Mr. Wells." She smiled politely as the three moved over the threshold to the corridor beyond. The agent locked the door behind them as Jesse moved off almost instantly, still not liking the idea of having a solid foundation beyond STAR on this Earth.

"I need to get back to work," Kara stated to her dad, kissing him on the cheek. "Ms. Grant will kill me if I'm more than ten seconds late…"

Later that afternoon, once work was over, Kara entered the labs alone. It was getting dark so early these days it was something she wasn't used to at all, but knew it was something she'd have to adapt to, daylight savings time and all that. Still, in a few minutes no doubt she and Barry would be making their way over to Earth-4 for the next part of their Multiverse mapping.

"Where's Barry?" Kara suddenly found herself asking, Cisco and Stein looking up from their computers having not seen her enter.

"Miss Wells," Martin grinned at Power Girl while Cisco stood and moved over to her.

"Barry's delayed. Some case Captain Singh won't let him out of. He'll be here soon though. Quick as a flash, after all." Cisco told her.

"Quick as a flash," Kara repeated with a grin.

"How did apartment hunting go?" Cisco now asked, making small talk as Kara took a seat and Cisco sat back down himself.

"Not bad. Dad's found three potential properties all within about three block's radius of this place. Have you not asked him or Jesse yourself?" She leaned forward in her chair.

"Not been around. While you were at work I opened a portal for Harry return to Earth-2 to sort out some final arrangements regarding finance or something while Jesse's been with Wally since. No classes for him today," he shrugged.

"It'll be fantastic having a place you can finally call your own." Martin spoke up from his computer. "I know you must be used to living in places like ARGUS and here, but a proper apartment. I remember my first apartment, this was before Clarissa and I got serious, you understand. I was so exhilarated to own my own place, to have somewhere to return to that was of my own. No labs in sight, beyond what I had in the spare bedroom. A kitchen, a place to lounge… a proper bed!"

Kara chuckled at Martin's enthusiasm – he seemed to only ever have two settings to his persona since she'd known him: Serious or enthusiastic. She loved both. She wondered if other Martin Steins were like this. She hadn't met another so far in her traveling. She knew he existed in Karry Universe from Jesse and Wally visit but he had not shown up on her and Barry's visit. Maybe she'd find out on this next Earth.

"This won't exactly be the same thing though, Martin. It's not an apartment of my own, it's more Harry's." Her thoughts were to Earth3 where her counterpart had her own apartment and to the Karry Universe where Kara and Barry obviously lived together. She wondered if she would ever get a place of her own or just maybe move in with Barry eventually.

"But even so! Lab-living isn't pleasant at the best of times. This is long-overdue for all three of you, even if Jessica is a little… reluctant." His face fell slightly at this.

"Jesse still thinks she wants to return to her life back home," Kara pointed out, a little sombrely now herself. She did not want to have her sister living on a different Earth, even with Cisco to vibe them. It would not be the same.

"And you think to the contrary?" Stein raised an eyebrow.

"Like it or not she's building a life here now. Dad seems settled already, she's got friends beyond us lot thanks to Wally and she knows I won't leave this Earth, apart from at weekends at the moment." She nodded to Cisco at this and Martin nodded in understanding himself.

"She may find her own Earth a little too unfamiliar by the time she returns, willing and able," Martin concluded, to a nod from Kara now.

There was a rush of wind and in a flash Barry was with them. He grinned at Kara instantly before Cisco jumped to his feet, Vibe goggles in hand.

"I didn't think we'd be going off immediately," Barry stated, an eyebrow raised at Cisco's goggles in his hand.

"No, err, sorry, Barry, I… well I've looked into Earth-4," he started.

"Have we come up with a name for that?" Barry side-tracked, before adding, "you know, like we did for 'The Karry Universe'?" He grinned at Kara at this. Over the past week she had grown more and more fond of that universe, especially since she had her Krypto toy to snuggle up to in bed. Barry himself had watched the videos he had been given from Kara and was impressed. The Barry and Kara of that Earth had formed a team together from the likes of Arrow and Firestorm to help stop the Reverse-Flash of that world. It was impressive and started to make Barry think they needed something similar to their Justice League of America, as those heroes had been dubbed. Then again, there were already three speedsters, Atom and Kara working together when needed.

Rolling his eyes, Cisco nevertheless responding to this question, "Well, since you and Kara seem insistent on calling this the 'Prime Earth' instead of just 'Earth-1'," Cisco sad, a little thoughtful, "does that mean we have to name every other Earth instead of just number them?" Cisco seemed a little freaked at the idea of naming every Earth.

"Not necessarily," Kara spoke up, "but it's a lot more fun this way."

"Fun?" Martin now spoke up, looking disapprovingly at Kara. "This is the exploration of unknown territories, not a night at the club! Numbering makes it all a lot simpler and scientific than naming them like pets."

"So, have you come up with a name for Earth-4?" Barry asked ignoring Martin's rant, noticing Cisco actually roll his eyes at Stein for this remark. In spite of himself, he was keen to know what Cisco or even Jesse could have come up with. 'Karry Universe' was okay, but not amazing when it came to Cisco's skill of naming things. He suspected Jesse having influence on that one.

"SuperEarth," Cisco couldn't help but grin to himself. Now it was Stein's turn to roll his eyes.

"Is that one word or two?" Barry now hesitated.

"And why 'SuperEarth'? If it's because of Supergirl, or even Superman, then any of these worlds could have been named that way," Kara pointed out. Every world they had been to so far besides their own world had a Supergirl and Superman. It seemed Krypton's destruction was more common than not. They were the anomalous one when it came to that aspect of 'Earth-1'.

"Mr. Ramone came to the conclusion after the merger of National City and Central City. Calling it one big super-city," Martin now spoke up, disapproval still in his voice.

"They're not a super-city," Barry corrected, "just two cities separated by a river. Or at least they were last time I went there…"

"Well, together they're still superior to the cities we've seen," Cisco pointed out.

"And it's not only that. Their… DEO as they call it has taken over STAR Labs –" Martin added.

"A weird coincidence there with ARGUS in ours, but the merger is a super-merger," Cisco added.

"Indeed," Martin nodded. "Then there's their Harry."

"What about him?" Kara now rounded on Martin, worried that a version of her dad could be in trouble or something.

"He has two daughters. Flesh and blood daughters," Cisco stated. "From what I could vibe they're Jesse and Isabelle," Cisco stated softly. "Jesse is the elder. Since he had two it's twice as much there too, and is super."

"Oh. Right," Kara didn't know what else to say about that.

"Alex's dad is alive there too," Cisco continued ploughing on.

"He's alive here," Kara stated, a little dumbfounded.

"He wasn't on the Karry Universe – or Earth-3," Cisco stated.

"We never asked on the Karry Universe," Barry added, that thought never having come to him.

"As for Earth-3, it's possible he's alive," Kara said, making the others looks at her. "I don't know. It's a blurry memory and Kara Danvers wasn't even sure herself."

"Have you been spying on this Earth and Karry's Earth?" Barry asked Cisco now, deciding to ignore the Earth-3 stuff. They could ask that Kara when they went back there.

"The Multiverse Enhancer's cleared the picture amazingly," Cisco defended. "The Karry Earth is the clearest Earth I can see beyond this one now. All I need to do is focus on a person and I thought of Alex the other day and that happened."

"You thought of Alex?" Kara raised an eyebrow.

"Well our Alex was telling us how her date with Sara went – apparently very good," he smirked. Kara and Barry looked knowingly at each other. They never told anyone that Sara and Alex had been together on the Karry Earth, figuring it was too much stress to put onto a newly forming relationship, but it seemed this world was heading for a repeat of that.

"Have you heard anything from Winn?" This reminded Kara of the last time she had spoken to Winn. He had stormed off because he was jealous of everyone having a pairing. Or at least that's what she could fathom.

"He's on the road again," Cisco shrugged. He didn't know about the exchange, Kara deciding it best to keep the secret Winn had revealed about his sexuality until Winn was ready to tell all.

"What about me?" Barry vocalized suddenly, Cisco tried to catch up on what Barry meant, still thinking of Winn. "Of this 'SuperEarth' – am I a part of it?" Barry elaborated. He had been curious about this since for a while now.

"Oh," Cisco shook his head to get back into gear. "From what I could see of SuperEarth – again, the device on the Karry Universe really cleared that picture up – you do exist there. And um," he glanced to Stein now who gave him an encouraging nod, "well, your mom and dad are alive there, man. You also have a sister there – not Iris I mean. A real little sister. From what I can get her name is Millie."

Barry hadn't been prepared for that. On his last and only visit to SuperEarth he'd only really encountered Kara, the DEO and battled against Zoom. There had been no time for pleasantries or looking up new versions of old friends like he'd tried on his first visit to Earth-3. Granted he had suspected his mom and dad to be alive, they had been on Earth-2 after all, but to have an actual sister?

"You can't get caught up in this world," Stein now pointed out, sounding scarily like Harry and bringing Barry back to the here-and-now. "Harrison told me what happened when you visited his world for the first time. You cannot interfere with your other life on Earth-4."

"SuperEarth," Kara corrected with a giggle. Stein glared at her.

"But is he with that world's Kara like in last week's Karry Earth?" Barry asked. He wondered if he was about to see another version of them as an item. It could be almost fun seeing them in different stages of the relationship.

"No, he isn't," Cisco stated a little bluntly, causing Barry and even Kara to backtrack in surprise. "He's not even the Flash there. Remember you even told me there was no Particle Accelerator explosion there. SuperEarth's Barry Allen had no reason to become the Flash, no family drama… I don't even know if there are meta-human's there, actually."

"This Earth sounds even crazier than I remember it," Barry muttered, sighing and glancing to Kara. "Shall we just go there and hope for the best?"

"That is not the attitude I expect of explorers," Martin stood suddenly. "You need to remember that this is a historical moment, that you cannot get caught in parallel lives and you need to gain the trusts of everyone of importance of that world! You cannot just jump over and simply 'hope for the best'!"

"I gained their confidence from my last visit," Barry replied, a little defensive.

"You were there for two hours at best. You can't expect them to remain trustworthy of you Allen, surely? I thought you were smarter than that?" Martin retorted.

"Okay, okay," Barry raised his hands in mock surrender while Kara had used this opportunity to get changed and returned in record time, donned in her Power Girl outfit.

"We'll be polite as anything. The perfect guests," Kara now stated fondly to Martin, who smirked back.

"Just remember," Stein moved around the computers to hand Kara the next Multiverse Enhancer, "not to get caught up in your others' lives there. Not just Barry himself, but you have another sister there who doesn't know you, Kara. Or at least she doesn't know you're meant to be related, including that world's Jessica Wells too."

Kara nodded. She hadn't thought of that and she suddenly felt apprehensive. At least on the Karry Earth there was no Harry or Jesse, so it was a cleaner break than this would be. She hoped that the Kara of that world was at least friends with the two Wells sisters, to give her a way into their lives, if for only a night or two, and make things a little easier. If they were involved in that Earth's Harry's lifestyle that was. The DEO was a lot more secretive than STAR Labs, she knew.

"I'm going to check Kara's vitals when you two cross over," Cisco whispered into Barry's ear while she and Stein were in conversation. "You mentioned she felt queasy last time. I want to make sure this won't happen again and if it does, to find out the source of it. I'll pass over any readings to Caitlin."

Barry nodded, glancing to Kara before speeding off to get changed. When he returned a moment later in his red outfit, Cisco already had his goggles on. Stein was back at this computer while Kara moved over to Barry.

"Time to visit another Earth," she stated, a little worriedly now as Barry took her hand.

"A Super-Earth," he teased as Kara smirked at this.

"Ready?" Cisco asked. The pair nodded as he lifted a hand. He didn't need Jesse this time. Hopefully adding more Enhancers to the next two Earths after this would gain him an easier access to viewing, and even accessing, the multiverse.

"I'll try and get you as close to that Kara as possible," Cisco added as a blue ripple expanded from his hand. Kara and Barry looked at one another for a microsecond in worry at this and then ran forward, straight into the breach.

-SuperEarth-

Barry expected to arrive in similar fashion to his last visit to SuperEarth, to come face-to-face with the Kara of this world, to even be picked up like he had been last time – he didn't expect to arrive in the heat of battle. He and Kara only just managed to duck out of the way as something exploded.

"What the–?" Kara shouted as Barry forced their heads low, assessing the situation.

Three women were in heated battle. He recognised the blond in the blue and red, he even recognised her aunt Astra from meeting a version of her the week before, but he didn't recognise the third, lanky female. Despite Astra and Kara doing their best efforts to subdue this female, she seemed to out-gun the both of them.

"We should help," Kara cautioned, looking to Barry in worry. She wanted to help the two since they could, and besides arriving by helping them would help gain trust.

Barry wasn't sure how to help until he heard gunfire. He looked around to see Alex and her father had joined the fray, along with quite a few DEO soldiers. He wondered how to act. He knew the Barry of this world wasn't the Flash, Cisco had just told him, but maybe someone else was? Maybe there were meta's here created from something else…?

"Barry!" Kara demanded, bringing his attention back to her. "This is a warzone, we really should help!"

"You stay here," Barry decided. Another Kara popping up out of the blue might not be the best thing for the battle. She could distract those fighting. "I've got an idea…" he wasn't sure what he was doing, but if two Kryptonians and a government agency couldn't defeat this lank woman, maybe the Flash could? Especially if there was no Flash of this world.

He jumped from behind the mound he and Kara were crouching behind and ran, speeding around the battle zone so quickly that no-one noticed him until he had hit the third Kryptonian with a surprising Super Sonic Punch. She went flying, shocked as she landed in a crumpled heap some feet away. Barry wasted no time in running over to her and wasn't surprised when Supergirl turned up by his side.

"This isn't over, Daughter of Alura!" The woman spat up at Supergirl, who moved forward to pull her enemy up, only to be met with a kick that now sent her flying. Barry rounded on the lank Kryptonian woman, but she had gone – nothing more than a blip in the air as he turned to see the faces looking his direction.

"Flash," Supergirl grinned, breathing heavily as her aunt moved up beside her, "I never thought I'd see you again." The grin showed she was clearly happy to see him again and Barry sighed. It seemed the trust he earned on his last visit was still there. At least with Supergirl.

"Who was that?" Power Girl had joined the commotion, Supergirl turning to look at her double with a shocked, open mouth.

"Never mind her… how?" Kara Danvers turned to look back at Barry again.

"She's with me and it's a long story. I think maybe it's time to head to STAR?" Barry asked politely, glancing at a silent Astra.

"Sure…" Kara Danvers breathed, Alex moving up next to her.

"This went from weird to just plain insane," Alex muttered as she glanced to Power Girl, who suddenly felt rather embarrassed to be here and moved in closer to Barry, who took her hand.

"We'll get this sorted back at base," Kara Danvers reaffirmed her sister.

It was barely ten seconds later when the two Karas, Barry and Astra stood in the forecourt of STAR Labs and Barry had to whistle his appreciation. He'd never had the chance last time he was here to see STAR in its proper glory. Yes, the one in the Karry Universe had been refurbished, but this one was still pretty much brand spanking new. He remembered from before the explosion on his own world how this place had looked but to see it in the so-called flesh again was a marvel.

"Place doesn't take a beating," Barry finally voiced as Astra led the way, Kara Danvers looking over her doppelganger with reservation as they passed the threshold.

"Well, this is a turn up for the books," Harrison Wells was waiting for them. "The Ramones and myself were monitoring the battle closely. I didn't expect the Flash from Another World to turn up and help like you did. It's nice to see you again Allen, or at least the Flash variant."

"Flash variant?" Barry asked as they moved through the corridors, Kara Wells gripping Barry's hand quite tightly as she avoided looking at her parallel father. "And 'The Ramones'? Either you have an old punk band occupying STAR Labs or you have more than one Cisco here now."

"Ah yes, well, I'll let you be introduced to the other," Wells smirked as they entered the Cortex.

"Winn!" Prime Kara breathed, grinning at seeing her friend and letting go of Barry's hand. Winn however looked confused.

"Two Karas?" He asked. "I thought the monitors were messing up…"

"Ah, you're still new to this, my brother," the familiar form of Cisco span around, somewhat dramatically in his chair to face the group, "but never lose faith in the technology – especially when it's mine."

"You're brothers?" Barry asked, unable to hide his surprise and looked at Kara. This was even weirder than the Jim Olsen who was brother to Winn on their Earth. Kara shrugged. Nothing from her experience on any of the three Earths she knew or had been to explained this.

"Of course," Cisco now continued, looking Barry over as though this was the most obvious thing in the world, but noticed the looks the two were giving. "We're not brothers on your Earth?" The two shook their heads, confirming. "How weird." Cisco shrugged. "And it's been a long time since I saw you, Flash."

"I look forward to running a few more tests," Harrison suddenly chimed up, moving around Barry and Prime Kara to look over the monitor Winn had left behind.

"Tests?" Barry asked confused. He did not remember tests.

"Last time you were here. Wells-y here took some of your blood, man, thought he could reproduce the Flash here with your other self of this world. Failed dramatically there though," Cisco rolled his eyes.

"Still remains to be seen," Harry muttered. "Director Danvers and Alex are arriving now."

"Maybe we'll get some answers," Astra finally spoke. She had been talking quietly to her niece by the medbay as Barry remained in discussion with Wells, Cisco and Winn that Barry had almost forgotten about her as he addressed the woman.

"Yeah, about answers… I thought you were dead? I remember you saying…" he nodded to Supergirl now, who shrugged.

"I'm sure at the time rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated. I was held prisoner here for a long time. After I learned of the death of my husband Non, I offered my service." Astra explained.

"Against that other woman?" Barry now asked. "Who was she? You were an enemy of the DEO… Forgive me for asking, but why haven't you been restrained if you're just helping take down another Kryptonian?"

"Because precisely that," Director Danvers' voice met Barry from the entrance as he turned to face Jeremiah. He looked as Barry barely remembered him. He was still in physical pique, but showing a sign of his age with greying hair and completely grey stubble. Still, he was quite handsome in his own right. "What use would another human have against another Kryptonian? I would admit I had my reservations at setting Ms. In-Ze free, but she's yet to turn on us and has helped greatly since Non's death in defeating Brainiac and her own Fort Rozz prisoners. It's good to see you again Allen too. I hope you haven't brought Zoom with you again?"

"I kept to my promise," Barry stated. "Zoom is dead."

"Sort of," Prime Kara corrected, wanting to put in her two cents and making Barry bite his lip. Kara really didn't need to tell them that.

"Sort of?" Kara Danvers rounded on her Prime double, wanting to know what she'd meant by this.

"He's no concern anymore," Barry quickly corrected. The last time he had been to 'SuperEarth' he'd found Zoom had got there first – he had terrorized the citizens of both Central City and National City and Barry had only just stopped his continued attack when the Flash and Supergirl forced him through a breach with Barry himself. The rest was pretty much Prime Earth history.

"Why are you here?" Alex spoke up now, looking at Barry in thought.

"It's… look, can we sit down? This feels weird. Too formal. Like an interrogation. You know I'm only here to help when I come here, right?" Barry asked.

"You've only been here once before," Alex replied, "so while our faith in you may be a little off-hand, surely you can understand why?"

"I never mean harm to any Earth I visit," Barry said to reassure. "I wouldn't even be here now if it wasn't an emergency."

"Emergency?" Alex asked.

"What's with the outfit?" Kara Danvers ignored the main discussion to address her double. "Why is the Symbol of El not proudly sitting in place on your chest like mine or Clark's?" she continued interrogating her Prime self, who looked slightly shocked to this.

"Well that's linked to why we're here," Barry interjected, noticing everyone was on the defensive and reminding himself that they had arrived in the middle of a battle. Trust or not.

"You were explaining," Jeremiah nodded his head at this.

"Well, you know on my Earth there are super-powered humans? From me and Zoom – even if Zoom wasn't exactly from my Earth," Barry started.

Jeremiah and Alex nodded together. How to condense this? What to say? Barry sighed. "So… Okay, you see on my Earth the Particle Accelerator was turned on. It exploded and caused hundreds of people to gain powers. Similar things have happened on other Earths as well, which is why you had Zoom. Well on my Earth my Cisco was one of the people who received powers. His power is the ability to see and travel between worlds, the latter of which you know I did a few months back to come here. Well, after Zoom's attack of this world he decided to claim all parallel worlds his and to do this he tried to destroy all but my world. He partially succeeded before I stopped him. My Cisco can no longer see and breach between certain worlds. He created a device however," he nudged Kara who produced the second Multiverse Enhancer from her belt, "which, when planted on certain parallels, will allow him to see and access those worlds – and more – in spite of the destruction."

"The multiverse theory," Astra voiced, thoughtful. "Scientists on Krypton were looking into it."

"Well it's no longer theory, lady." Barry smirked to her. "We're living proof of that."

"So your super-powered version of me made a device to see into parallel universes? That is so cool!" Cisco grinned at the pair. "Can I meet him?"

"Once we activate the device he can see here and open a breach." Barry nodded.

"Not so fast," Jeremiah spoke up. "As much as we'd like to trust you, Allen, we have other priorities first."

"And what about the symbol and suit?" Kara Danvers stated, clearly wanting answers. "How is that linked to your Cisco and super-powered humans?"

"They're called meta-humans," Prime Kara now spoke up. "And because the suit was made by my Cisco." She didn't know how to continue. How do you tell someone of a parallel universe that their home world is safe and sound? That she was only a clone. She sighed now as Astra and Kara Danvers raised their eyes at Power Girl. "On my Earth, Kryptonians…" she started, "Kryptonians aren't as extinct as they are here. Krypton actually never died." Astra and Kara seemed shock at this news.

"What do you mean? Did more survive the explosion?" Astra asked, having to know.

"I'm not exactly like a Kara you know." Kara wanted to avoid telling them the truth of Prime Krypton. It wasn't their world so she didn't see it as their concern. "When Barry came back from here last time he had a piece of your hair or the other Kara's hair he had met. A cloning meta made me from that to use against Barry, but I broke free of her control," Kara wondered how this Kara and Astra would take it. The other ones she met were fine with clones – the Karry Earth even had their own clone in Karen – but she didn't want to belittle who she was at the same time. A Kara Zor-El may exist on Prime Krypton, but she was still very much one and the same regardless. "I went to meet another Kara to learn of my Kryptonian history and heritage and while I do take pride in my house, I feel I don't need to show this pride as evidently. I wanted an outfit that was different to the Supergirls we know and this was the result. I rather like it."

"The costume is similar in style to mine, I grant you" Kara Danvers pointed out, "but the color palette just looks wrong to me. I'm sorry." Kara Danvers smiled at the other woman taking the clone information well.

"It's okay," Kara Wells smiled. "Even though I'm a clone I'm also you. Well, a parallel you. I completely understand."

"On my Krypton they were experimenting on creating clones," Astra added suddenly. "I'm glad this 'meta-human' succeeded in such a creation. You're beautiful." Prime Kara blushed at this.

"Do you need help?" Barry now asked Jeremiah. "Against that other Krytonian, I mean? If we can help you stop her, will you allow us to activate our Cisco's device?"

"I don't see why not," Jeremiah nodded.

"Who is she?" Prime Kara now spoke up.

"She's known only as Faora-Ul" Astra spoke up. "She was a revolutionary and scientist back on Krypton. She joined Non and my cause. Myriad. In the short time after leaving the Phantom Zone, however, she grew more close to Non than I ever did. It made it easier parting ways with him when I did." Anger flashed in her eyes and Kara knew what her parallel aunt meant. She had her Kryptonian memories and information from Earth-3 after all.

"They formed the bond?" She asked politely.

"Yes." Astra nodded.

"Bond?" Barry now asked, a little confused to say the least.

"You would call the concept 'soulmates'" Kara Danvers spoke up. "A mental connection between Kryptons. A kindred bond that lasts for a lifetime and can only be formed by those compatible."

"And you and Non weren't? Despite being married?" Barry couldn't help asking Astra. This concept sounded eerily familiar.

"Our marriage was more political," Astra snipped.

"Is this bond possible between a Kryptonian and Human?" Barry asked, something clicking as he suddenly remembered what Karen told him the week before.

"A lesser form, yes," Astra said nodding. "Are you two?" Astra looked them over. It seemed clear to anyone that they were a couple.

"No, just a… long story," Barry said, not wanting to get into talking about the other Earth.

"I remember talk of a Faora…" Prime Kara spoke up now, having glanced at Barry on his comments but remained non-verbal in her curiosity. The name of Faora had been familiar to her since Astra had spoken it. "On my world, well…" she gave Barry a glance, meaning 'Earth-3', not her actual world, "she had joined General Dru-Zod's regime. But I can't remember what happened to her."

"Your world was lucky if she and Zod vanished," Astra muttered.

"What's Faora's plan?" Barry got back on topic. "Myriad must be dead if you defeated Non and Brainiac. She can't be trying for it alone, surely?" He had long since been let into events of Earth-3 after all.

"We're not entirely sure," Astra now admitted. "She was always on board with Myriad that when it fell…" she shrugged.

"Where is she then?" Prime Kara asked.

"Fort Rozz," Kara Danvers stated.

"You never…?" Prime Kara asked her duplicate, knowing from her memories that similar events had transpired on Earth-3, leading to that Kara to throw Fort Rozz into space. Obviously that hadn't happened here.

"Never, what?" Kara Danvers asked, confusion evident on her face. "We captured and safely imprisoned all the surviving prisoners here and in other DEO facilities. With the exception of Faora of course. Fort Rozz was abandoned, we had no reason to dismantle it or anything similar."

"Besides, have you ever tried to take apart a Kryptonian vessel?" Cisco pointed out. "Blowtorches wouldn't even scorch it. Even Kara couldn't dent the thing…"

"Okay Cisco…" Kara Danvers warned the geek off.

"So what's the plan?" Barry now rounded on Jeremiah, knowing he was top gun here, so would be the man with the plan.

"Faora's weak thanks to you Allen, she would have retreated. I suggest you, Kara and Astra try and detain her. She doesn't know about your existence," Jeremiah pointed at Prime Kara, "I suggest you hold back. If we need a surprise element, then you're the perfect candidate."

"Forgive me for asking," Prime Kara responded, "but why have two Kryptonians failed in taking down Faora? Couldn't you have asked for Kal-El's help?" Surely Superman existed on this world.

"Clark would help if he could, but he's kind of busy. Lex Luther's been a pain as usual recently, and his life is pretty hectic with his kids in school," Kara Danvers stated, "not to mention Metropolis seems to be in danger every other week so he hasn't been widely available. It's up to Astra and myself."

"He has a family here too," Prime Kara mumbled a little sadly, more to herself. Out of all the aspects of her parallel lives, not having a Kal-El on her home Earth was heart-breaking, even if she never verbalized this to anyone else.

"Shouldn't Astra have a super-suit?" Barry suddenly pointed out. "You're a good guy now, you can shed that black leotard," he stated to the woman.

"I've been trying to convince her that for ages, man, but no shift there," Cisco stated with a moan, obviously having wanted to create a super-suit for the woman for some time now.

"I see no need to disguise myself. I have no human identity here," Astra shrugged.

"Yeah, but still!" Cisco pleaded, but Astra didn't answer.

"Okay," Barry sighed. "Do you at least have a codename? I'm Flash, Kara's Supergirl…"

"What's your codename?" Kara Danvers suddenly asked Prime Kara, who looked surprised by the question.

"Oh. Power Girl," Prime supplied. "I was dubbed it by Cat Grant," she realised the controversy this title seemed to have on another Kara – the Karry Universe Kara hadn't been fond of it. Who knows what this Kara thought.

"Right. So, will tonight be the night we take down Faora?" Kara Danvers asked, skipping over the name as she addressed her DEO cohorts. It seemed this Kara wasn't so bothered by the name.

"We'll soon see," Astra stated. She hadn't given them her codename after all.

"Talk about being thrown straight in the fire," Barry commented to Prime Kara, who raised her eyebrows in agreement.

-SuperEarth-

Fort Rozz was in the Nevada Desert, just like it had been on Earth-3, but it wasn't cloaked. Strong though it was, invisible it wasn't. Barry could tell it had been there a while as it looked worn down. It showed signs of its crash land to this Earth many years ago and, even in the darkening evening, he could see that the desert winds had whipped away a lot of defining features. But he wasn't put off by this, he knew it was still likely the strongest holding on this Earth and inside was likely the strongest woman this Earth had seen.

This game wasn't to be played lightly.

Before leaving the DEO he had been given a new communicator and together, he, Kara Danvers and Astra had come up with a plan. He would scan the perimeter; Astra would enter the threshold then would try and talk Faora down. When that inevitably failed, Kara would enter and no doubt a fight would begin. Barry would come to their rescue and if that proved unsuccessful, Power Girl would help bring the fight home.

One way or another, this battle was going to end tonight.

"No-one about," Barry told Astra through his new coms, "I can't get into the building – the structure isn't of this Earth so I can't phase through it. Something to work on. So you're on your own."

"I know how to get in," Astra stated firmly, landing just outside what Barry could only assume was the entrance. Kara Danvers was flying around in a wide perimeter. He could only just see her streaking through the sky in the distance.

"How's it going?" Prime Kara asked in Barry's ear.

"Only just started. We'll see what Astra can do first," Barry replied thoughtfully, remaining outside Fort Rozz as he contemplated how they'd gotten into this fight so instantly. It seemed every Earth they went to they got involved in fights. Karry Universe had been an accident, but this one they were delivered right into the battleground. Barry shrugged though. If it helped get these people to trust them then why not.

Astra moved into the structure at that moment and Barry didn't hesitate to follow, although keeping his distance as he found himself in a darkened, oddly structured, corridor. He watched as Astra moved to the end, wondering why no alarms had been sounded, but this curiosity was appeased when a large klaxon suddenly rang. It was definitely not of this world.

"Astra In-Ze," a deep female voice boomed over the structure's own communications system, "why come back after you abandoned and betrayed us?"

"I've come to talk," Astra spoke, Barry impressed by her confidence in the situation.

"Then talk!" The woman spat.

"What are you planning?" Astra tried. "Myriad is gone. Non and Brainiac are dead. The army is imprisoned out of your reach. You're all alone."

"Not for long…" A door to Astra's right opened; she was thrown into a purple light as she gasped. Barry ran up next to her in spite of trying to keep his distance as he looked to see what Astra could see.

There was a large purple rock in the small room beyond. It was the only light in the room but the ethereal glow made the inscriptions embedded in the walls dance in its pulsating light.

"You perfected it?" Astra asked, worried.

"Not only did I do that…" A door within the room opened; the lank, dark haired pale woman stepped forward, she glanced at Barry but said nothing as she smirked at her former colleague. "I made it better. In its current form it will only give one human powers to match ours on this very planet, but in gaseous form..."

"Wait, you plan on making meta-humans with that?" Barry couldn't help but ask, forcing Faora to look his direction properly.

"Meta-humans?" she repeated, confused.

"Super-powered humans, like me" Barry replied.

"In a way," she smirked.

"How will you know these 'meta-humans' will join you in whatever sick scheme you have?" Astra asked now.

"I don't, but with a special mind controlling agent as part of the basis for its gaseous form, I'm sure you can see the benefits for yourself," Faora stated.

"Yeah, so not as good," Prime Kara stated in Barry's ear, having heard the exchange. Like him, she had a momentary thought of giving this Earth meta-humans, but not ones who'd be controlled by this corrupt Kryptonian.

"I can't allow that," Astra replied to her equal nonetheless.

"I'm sure you can't," Faora stated, moving around the purple Kryptonian rock. "But that's not your problem." She moved to a panel against the wall, but Barry got there first, knocking her fingers from it. "You!" Faora growled, but Astra came from behind and punched the Kryptonian. Her powers were more muted inside the structure from her home world, so it didn't play as effectively as outside, but that was all it seemed Supergirl needed before she was in the room with them.

As before, Barry found himself in the middle of a battle of women – Supergirl and Astra against this Faora woman, but he was more distracted this time. He had stopped Faora getting too far in activating her biological Kryptonian weapon, but not far enough. The aunt and niece would need to deal with Faora. He needed to deal with this.

"Something's happened with the activation," Barry called back to his Kara and the DEO. "There's some sort of detonation sequence…" he looked back to the purple Kryptonite. It was glowing brighter and losing mass. Already it was beginning to disperse. "Oh this isn't good. What if it –?"

"Barry!" Prime Kara brought his concentration back up. "I recognise the words. They're Kryptonese. You need to press the two green buttons together, that's a failsafe by the looks of it." It was lucky the DEO communications array came with internal visual sensors. He should talk to his Cisco about that for their coms.

"No!" Faora screamed when Barry had pressed the buttons indicated. The dispersal of the Kryptonite ceased instantly, the glow subsiding and Supergirl took her chance. Leading a massive blow to the back of her skull, Faora crumpled to the ground.

Astra was by Barry's side instantly, now free of the battle as she looked at the panel Barry was facing. "I would have found this," she stated. "I should have realised. Director Danvers," she stood, addressing Jeremiah in her own communicator, "it was my mistake not to realize what Faora-Ul was planning. I take responsibility for some of her actions."

"It's okay Astra," Barry heard Jeremiah in his ear now, "you've proved more than your worth. Faora will answer to her crimes, as long as you get her to base immediately. If she wakes…"

"I'll do it," Barry said suddenly. "I know you Kryptonians are fast, but I'm faster. Trust me."

"Very well." Astra nodded at Barry. "We'll follow behind." Barry grinned at Supergirl, but she didn't meet his eye as he nevertheless picked up the unconscious Foara and left.

Back in STAR and the DEO, Harry had Faora in lock up long before the villainess woke. Barry was glad to have helped, but it all seemed so quick. They hadn't been here for more than an hour, maybe two when he was addressing the Director once more about the Multiverse Enhancer.

"Unlike last time, you're not to leave us just yet, Mr. Allen. Harrison and Cisco want a closer look at your Enhancer device. If you don't mind spending the night? We have quarters set up already for yourself and Miss…?" He turned to address Prime Kara.

"Just call me Kara-2," Prime Kara smiled, not wanting to step on Harrison's life already while remembering Barry's designation on the Karry Earth. Harry had two daughters somewhere in the country, she didn't want him to think of another one. She had decided that now.

"Very well," Jeremiah stated with a raised eyebrow as Kara refused to give her last name. "I'm guessing you're not a Danvers?" Jeremiah tried, but Kara shook her head. "Wow, I couldn't imagine by life without Kara." He smiled to his own Kara but then shrugged as he let the two be lead off to their temporary accommodation.

-SuperEarth-

"What's wrong with this Earth's version of me?" Prime Kara asked Barry the moment they were alone in the spare quarters. Two simple camp beds had been set up for them, much like the sort Jesse and Harry of Earth-2 had been sleeping on for far too long.

"What do you mean?" Barry asked as he stripped into nothing but his boxers and lay on his bed.

"She's distant. Cold, almost. She's nothing like the Karry Kara or Earth-3's Kara. Or me come to think of it. She does her job as Supergirl really well, but it's like there's something missing. Some vital piece…" Kara speculated, sitting on the edge of her camp bed.

"I don't know," Barry muttered. "The last time I was here… well I was barely here for an hour or two come to think of it, but she seemed fine then."

"Something's wrong. I think we should take her to breakfast tomorrow," Kara stated. "Can't have any version of me so cold."

"Maybe it's Astra," Barry suddenly voiced.

"What about her?" Kara asked.

"Well, Astra has her powers here. Maybe Kara feels undermined with her aunt about?" Barry voiced.

"Astra didn't want an outfit. I don't think she's going to remain in the superhero game now Faora's been taken down," Kara countered.

"I suppose…" Barry muttered as Kara got under blankets herself.

"We'll wait until morning." She told him pleasantly. "Hey, did you know Winn was adopted into the Ramone family?" She suddenly added. "That's why they're brothers here."

"Hum? Really? How?" Barry asked.

"His mom was dead by the time his dad was imprisoned. Like you on our home Earth. Winn and Cisco were friends in school and his mom took Winn in. He even took their last name when he first got the opportunity," Kara stated.

"So he's actually Winn Ramone here?" Barry asked. "That's kinda cool. I mean sad for his dad –"

"His dad never wanted anything to do with him. It's why there was no contest to the name change," Kara provided.

"And you found that out while we were fighting Faora?" Barry asked.

"Well I had to do something while I was waiting on the back lines for you guys." Kara sighed. "And I was curious about the brother comment."

"Did you find out more about Harry?" Barry suddenly asked innocently. "You didn't reveal your last name I noticed."

"Two daughters, just as our Cisco said. Both out of town this week – gone to Florida for a late holiday. I wanted to meet them but… I suppose it's for the best," Kara stated.

"You can always come back," Barry stated, "once the device is active. You'll be able to hop here as well as Karry or anywhere else. With our Cisco's help of course."

"Hmm, yeah," Kara yawned. Barry knew that was the end of the conversation though so remained silent at this. His mind now raced on what possibilities there could be on this Earth, on what Faora had attempted and whether meta-humans were ever to be a thing here or not…

-SuperEarth-

The next morning, Prime Kara wasted no time in meeting her SuperEarth double at the first opportunity and before Barry knew it, he was sitting in the familiar café of CC Jitters with a coffee and a bacon bagel. He was taking in facing two Kara's when his, with shorter hair and a simple dress, finally brought up the topic she had been skimming over since they'd left the DEO.

"What's getting you down, sis?" Prime Kara asked, Danvers smirking in spite of herself at the nickname of 'sis' – in public she had agreed to keep up the rouse, considering they were near-on identical.

"What do you mean?" Danvers asked, toying with her coffee. She hadn't actually taken a sip of it since ordering. Barry decided to take a gulp of his so to not be involved in this delicate conversation. He halfway wondered why he was even here.

"You're… down. I can tell. I am you after all," Prime Kara pointed out, this last bit in more of a whisper than anything.

"I'm alright." Danvers shrugged.

"Is it Cat Grant? I know how she can be…" Prime Kara started.

"You have a Cat?" Danvers asked, a little shocked. "Oh yeah you mentioned she gave you your name. Sorry, I forgot. I just thought she was one of a kind."

"Oh-no, trust me she's not. From what I have seen so far, in all universe I think she's unchangeable," Barry couldn't help but add in to the conversation with a smirk. The articles on the Flash he had read of late had a distinctly different tone to that of the ones he was used to when written solely by Iris before. Kara Danvers smirked again at this, but didn't comment further.

"Boy trouble?" Prime Kara asked, Barry glad he hadn't taken another sip of drink at that point – as he was sure he would have spat it out from this remark.

"Not exactly," Danvers stated, keeping things short. She sighed as she leaned back in her chair, looking at the ceiling while Prime Kara gave her Barry a look.

"So it's relationship issues," Prime Kara ploughed on. "You're not with this Earth's version of Barry though –"

"Wow you're blunt and to the point," Danvers stated. "We definitely don't share that trait. But no, I'm not with this world's Barry."

"Is he gay?" Prime Kara jumped in, Barry's eyes wide at this as he momentarily considered a world where he could be homosexual. So far that had not happened, but he kind of did want to see it now he thought about it.

"No!" Kara Danvers retorted, dampening Barry's thoughts as she continued, defensively, "He's definitely not gay. He's…" As if to answer that point, Barry caught sight of two new people entering the café. He saw himself and a pretty brunette almost glued to his arm. Neither noticed the two Kara's and Barry's double as they moved over to the counter to order morning drinks.

Prime Barry tried to hide himself as best as possible from his double's sight, should he look over their direction, but Prime Kara was already rounding on her double. "Barry's with another woman? That's why. You want to be with him but you can't split them up!"

"Okay, okay, yes. You have it on the mark. I really liked Barry when he came last time," she glanced to Prime Barry at this but turned to address her double again. "So I befriended this Earth's Barry, thinking we could spark something, but he's had a girlfriend since high school. Her."

"High School? That's ten times longer than any relationship I have had!" Barry complained, thinking to himself that it was even longer than the other Barry and Kara he had met and _that_ had impressed him then. "Who is she?" Barry now asked. He didn't recognise her and if she was meant to be the double of someone he knew in his time at high school then they obviously weren't close on his world.

"June Moone," Kara Danvers stated quietly, the tanned barista handing over two cups of hot drinks to go as Barry made sure to remove himself entirely from sight as the pair turned to leave. Both seemed engrossed in whatever they were talking about though, and didn't notice the second Barry or the two Karas as they left. "She's an archaeologist now," Danvers continued, "and he's a physicist. They make a good pairing."

"He's a physicist?" Barry asked, surprised. "I thought we'd have the same job…"

"You became a CSI because of your mom's death," Prime Kara pointed out. "She didn't die here, right?"

"Your mom died?" Danvers countered, looked at Barry in shock. "I like her."

Prime Kara moved back on to topic. "I'm sorry, Kara, but you can't be hung up on a guy, even if it is Barry." She gave her Barry a glance as he thoughtfully finished his bagel. "There are other people out there. Maybe one will fall out of the sky for you. You are Supergirl after all," she lowered her voice at this and Kara Danvers smiled appreciatively.

"Still waiting for my falling star," Danvers gave her double a little nudge on the arm.

"I'm going to talk to my Cisco," Prime Kara suddenly announced, "and see if there's a way to link these Enhancers to some sort of communications arrays. It would be nice to keep in contact. I'd love to help make you feel better. Hey, I have an idea! Jesse – my sister on my world – she's planning this girl's night out with myself, my Alex, Caitlin, Sara and Dinah. If you can spare a few hours I can get you to come along. We can't get drunk being Kryptonians, but it'll be fun and take your mind of things. Oh and we know two other Karas as well from different worlds who we can hang with some other time. Wouldn't it be fun to get all Karas together to talk about differences in our lives?"

Barry's mind raced at the thoughts of multiple Kara's that he barely heard what the Danvers variant in front of him said next.

"I'd like that. The girls night out," Danvers added the last part as an after thought. "A Kara convention might be weird and confusing though." She smiled and winked nevertheless at her double who laughed at that comment.

-PowerFlash-

Cisco was alerted, once again, to the activation of his second Multiverse Enhancer on a Saturday. He was alone this time in the Labs, chewing on a pen as he perused the internet and it took him by surprise. He was sure they'd last until Sunday this time, but still, it seemed their time was up early once more.

He stood as he picked up his Vibe goggles. Concentrating on his Enhancer, he saw an image of the woman called Astra and Supergirl. They were hugging Prime Kara in her Power Girl outfit as Barry shook hands with Jeremiah Danvers. Cisco was really getting to know people without ever meeting them thanks to these powers. He felt like he had his own private Facebook with the multiverse that way.

Concentrating harder on this image, of this world, he felt the rush of power spread from his very core down to the fingertips of his right hand, feeling the blue glow of the breach before he saw the actual thing. He caught a momentary glance of Kara Wells and his Barry Allen clasping hand before they jumped into the breach and landed right in front of him.

Closing the portal, Cisco removed his goggles and grinned. "You know; I'm beginning to think I should send you off on a Saturday instead. You don't seem to take long with this anymore."

"It's only been our second prepared trip," Barry responded reasonably, looking around. "Next time might be longer."

"Did you see anything we did over there?" Kara immediately asked. "Cos there was a lot more Kyptonian stuff there."

"I didn't really look. Had some me-time last night after you guys and Martin left," Cisco shrugged.

"Me-time? Designing new costumes?" Barry smirked.

"So, what did you get up to?" Cisco quickly change topic. "I saw your aunt Astra…" he added.

Kara couldn't help herself in giving Cisco a detailed analysis after that, telling Cisco that they'd arrived in the heat of battle and what transpired after that. He was very interested by the purple Kryptonite with the ability to turn normal humans into meta-humans and wondered, with Kara, if meta-humans were ever going to be a thing on that Earth or not. Kara got as far as the coffee with her double that morning before she remembered her promise to the other Kara.

"Oh, I need to go back there in a few weeks. I promised I'd take her out with the girls. And you need to figure out some sort of communication across the multiverse. I really built an interest in it with that Earth's Kara…"

"That wouldn't be a bad idea. I promised Earth-3's Winn I'd contact him and I haven't since," Cisco replied feeling bad about that. Kara and Barry shared a knowing glance at this but said nothing.

Of course Cisco had been busy since his sudden trip to Earth-3, and he was sure Winn had been as well, but he didn't like not keeping his promise. If they could perfect communication between worlds it would be easier for everyone and, hell, if they needed an extra hand and couldn't get it from this Earth they could always ask a different Kara, Barry or others for help.

"Thought of a name for that Earth?" Barry now innocently asked. "Beyond 'Earth-3'?"

"I think I'll wait until after next week to officially dub it," Cisco thought aloud. A distracted look in his eyes.

* * *

 _Next time…_

" _I'm coming too!" Cisco suddenly announced to the pair._

" _What?" Kara asked. "I thought this was a mission for just Barry and me?"_

" _Well it is, but since I haven't spoken to Earth-3's Winn, I kind of owe him an apology. That and I want to test out something and with you busy fighting whatever –"_

" _We don't go to other Earths just to fight things," Barry replied, folding his arms._

" _I know that," Cisco reasoned, "but it's inevitable. When you went to Harry's Earth you fought Killer Frost and Deathstorm before being kidnapped by Zoom, then when you went to Earth-3, the first time there was that Shrieky and Sparky," he had two fingers raised at this, Barry opened his mouth to counteract him, but Cisco continued. "Then SuperEarth the first time, you and that Kara faced off to Zoom there. Then there's the recent times –"_

" _Okay, okay!" Barry had his hands raised as Kara couldn't help but giggle. "Maybe I do get into some scrapes when I Earth hop, but I don't see why you need to come."_

" _I want to test out my first ever multiverse communications array. This time I promise to remain in conversation with that Winn," Cisco announced proudly._

* * *

Post-chapter Note 1: So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed a new glance into Earth-4/SuperEarth. I'm aware I've not even covered a fraction of the things this Earth has to offer, but come Christmas-time, I plan on my official sequel – SuperEarth-2 – to delve deeper into the lives of Kara, Barry, Astra, and even June Moone. I hope you liked some hints of what's to come there. Especially those of you who have seen the Suicide Squad movie. That's going to be fun.

Post-chapter Note 2: I want to quickly address the issue of abuse to authors in fanfiction as my Beta has recently faced some nasty abuse here due to killing off Felicity Smoak in her story. I know we're passionate about the characters we like and the stories we like, but when that turns south for whatever reason, please don't turn to bullying. It's not nice and way too easy to do when you can't see the person you're bullying. Please keep it nice people. This is _fan_ fiction after all. Written by, and for, the fans. Anyway, on that note, please REVIEW. Sigma out!


	16. Green Christmas

Note: I know I promised four episodes of non-stop Earth hopping, but due to my old computer dying on me, and the need to introduce certain factors before CharmedMillie does her next crossover to my story, this episode had to be bumped up a bit. Don't worry, reasonable explanation is given in-chapter that it doesn't seem too out of the ordinary, especially given the theme of this episode. So it may be two months too early in real life, but Merry Christmas! Hah…

Dedication: I think it's time to dedicate something to Karry Lover! You made predictions in your recent comment, just on the fly, that may come to light sooner rather than later. Hope you enjoy.

Episode Sixteen – Green Christmas.

Plans had unexpectedly changed. Kara and Barry had been preparing to return to Earth-3 when Cisco had received a call. He had left barely five seconds after he'd hung up and they hadn't seen him since. A few days later however and the news seemed to leak back to them, and it turned out that while Winn's brother was finally out of hospital due to the Wally incident, Cisco's brother however had just been put in hospital – and it was serious. Cisco and Dante Ramone had reconciled only recently over his Earth-2 doppelganger and neither Ramone brother was going to let their respective lives get in the way, so Cisco refused to leave his side, or general location, until Dante was ready.

So, in the presence of Harry and Martin, both Kara and Barry had agreed to put off their multiverse hopping until Cisco returned, and was emotionally stable to handle it. That was a month ago. It was now entering December and Christmas was fast approaching, and while Dante's condition remained stable, Cisco was still taking an extended leave to be with his brother.

Barry's work was getting insane too. Captain Singh had really laid into him at the beginning of the month – it seemed that in spite of his speed, being the Flash had its downside and his continuing lack of presence at the Precinct had caused the Captain to blow a fuse and demand Barry no longer take time off until the year was out for any reason. It was kind of harsh, but as Joe put it: "You only have a month, and it's not like the city is going to be in danger thanks to Jesse, Wally and Kara." Barry accepted this and was now really starting consider other means of work regardless, with his focus remaining on STAR Labs.

Kara on the other hand had seriously impressed Cat over the past month. Not only had she pandered to Ms. Grant every needs before her boss had even stated them, but she'd arranged every gala event Cat wanted, including grabbing every guest who she'd invited without one decline. Power Girl had also given a new interview to Cat Co., which had left Cat herself rather giddy and slightly too happy for anyone's like. Needless to say, Kara was in Cat's good books, that was for sure. And Power Girl definitely hadn't suffered. In fact; with Quick, Silver and even Alex and Sara about stopping petty meta-humans, Power Girl had been needed less, but not necessarily missed. She was sad, of course, that she wasn't going to see any other Karas on other Earths as yet, but with Christmas coming up she couldn't help but get excited. It was her first Christmas and she couldn't wait to celebrate it with her family. With Jesse and Harry.

Speaking of which, Harry had chosen an apartment, and contrary to his belief, both of his daughters had been living there since. It was a two-bedroom deal, but Kara and Jesse were still very much in the giggly-sisters stage that they didn't mind sharing a room. They knew eventually they'd probably get sick of one another, but both seemed to be putting in the effort not to get there until after New Year's at the very least.

So, it was a Saturday afternoon, with snow falling gently outside the apartment when both sisters decided to break out the new decorations. They could have decorated the place in five seconds flat with their super-speed, but with it being their first Christmas as a bigger family, and Jesse's first Christmas as a speedster anyway, they chose the slower, human way.

"Remind me again the importance of a pine tree?" Kara asked as she stood back from their tree. It wasn't yet decorated but looked very nice illuminated against the window of the living room.

"It looks pretty?" Jesse suggested jokingly, "I honestly don't know. You put presents under it and it brings people together when they come around. Plus, it's really fun to decorate!"

"And how many fairy lights did you get to put on it?" Kara asked, bemused now as she moved around the six-foot pine.

"A set of three-hundred," Jesse smirked. "And that's just for the tree. Don't get me started on what we're putting around the windows and the bed-heads."

"We're decorating our room too?" Kara actually laughed. She had not been expecting that but it was her first Christmas after all. She didn't remember the other Kara going to such lengths though.

"Of course! It's not called the 'most magical time of the year' for nothing after all," Jesse moved over to one of their shopping bags to take out a large box of fairy lights.

"I have a lot to learn about Christmas," Kara sighed as she looked out of the window to the city beyond. "Not many people have their decorations up yet…"

"Doesn't mean we can't be one of the first," Jesse handed one end of the cable of lights to her sister.

"New apartment, new city, new Earth… you've gotten comfortable here now, haven't you?" Kara asked, wanting to touch on the topic of Jesse's old need to return home. She hadn't mentioned Earth-2 in a while.

"New start," Jesse avoided Kara's gaze as she focussed on unpacking the lights. "My friends back home… It's complicated. Dad's happy here, you're here, Wally's here."

"Complicated?" Kara didn't want to let Jesse get away with it this time.

"My friends thought I was dead," Jesse concentrated on decorating the tree, a little too forcefully Kara had to admit. "Well, I was taken by Zoom, then I was here, when I returned I collapsed within the first few minutes, then I was taken back here again and have remained here for… well, I was declared dead actually," now she looked at Kara. "I asked Cisco before the whole Dante-thing and he told me."

"Are… are you sure dad didn't bribe Vibe to say that for him?" Kara asked tentatively. She didn't want to lose Jesse, but she didn't want her sister unhappy if she could find happiness back home. "You know how he doesn't want to let you go, and how happy he is here. He could have forced Cisco into saying that?" She didn't want to badmouth Harry but these were facts, and even she knew what her dad had done to get Jesse back from Zoom, and even after to keep her by his side.

"I thought of that," Jesse stopped her decorating, placing a hand on the glass of the window as she now looked out to the darkening city, "so had Cisco open a portal to there."

"When was this?" Kara breathed. "You didn't collapse there did you?"

"I was fine. And it was while you were working, during the day… I found my eldest school friend and she…" Kara could hear her sister's voice was trembling over this; she moved over to put a hand cautiously on Jesse's arm. "Well, she was obviously surprised, then upset when I couldn't tell her everything and then very cold with me. Things got awkward and I tried, I really did." Jesse sighed. Looking away from her reflection and back to the tree now. "People can be so fickle."

"Maybe it was just her though? You have other friends over there? Maybe they would be more accommodating?" Kara suggested.

"You'd think so," Jesse crouched once more to pick up the lights she'd dropped in her confession, "but when one girl friend becomes a bitch, she quickly takes over the whole group. It became very obvious that I was no longer welcome with them. They don't take returning from the dead as well as people here, it seems. Well, I'm done with Earth-2. I can't go back."

"I don't think I'll ever understand the human ways," Kara stated suddenly to this. "Lucky most of my friends are meta-humans then," she gave Jesse's arm a squeeze as she finally let go of her sister to pick up the plastic box of baubles. "We're supposed to hang these on the branches?" She tried to change topic.

Jesse gave Kara a sideways smirk but before she could confirm this, there was a knock at the door. Kara put down the plastic box and looked to the door, using her X-Ray vision to see through the plastic and her heart suddenly stopped. It couldn't be?

"You okay?" Jesse asked as she turned to look at the door. "You're closer but if you want me to get it…?"

"No!" Kara suddenly jumped over the couch to move to the door before looking back to Jesse. "I mean… I've got this… Hang on." She reached for the handle and pulled, opening the door inward to reveal the man waiting beyond.

He was dressed in a suit, something she remembered him to be in a lot in her memories, but wore no glasses. His hair wasn't scruffy like when he went about in his human persona, instead it was combed back like it should have been, like she was used to. He in fact looked the same as her memories, even down to the blue eyes and strong jaw. But why was he here? How was this possible?

"Kara… Wells?" the man asked nervously as he looked at her.

"Yeah?" Kara asked tentatively.

"I think we need to talk," the man stated.

"I think we do," Kara confirmed, confused but also a bit excited now.

"Kara?" Jesse asked behind her, but Kara ignored her as she took a step back to allow the man over the threshold of the flat. She closed the door quickly as she turned to look at him.

"Kal-El. How is this possible?" She didn't waste any time wanting answers. She had wanted to meet her cousin ever since she'd visited Earth-3 and had been upset when she hadn't come to face him on the Karry Earth or even SuperEarth. She was also nervous now, since she had no idea what Kal's reaction to her would be or why he was even here. At least on another Earth she could be almost certain Clark Kent would accept her.

The man had been looking bemusedly at the half-done Christmas decorations, he had even glanced momentarily at Jesse but turned quickly to look at Kara as she revealed his identity. "How do you know who I am?"

"Forget that. How are you here?" Kara tried to move the conversation in her direction.

"Who is this Kara?" Jesse now asked, moving cautiously around Kal-El toward her sister, not removing her eyes off the man. "And why do I feel like I've met him before?"

"He's my cousin," Kara stated, keeping her eyes on Kal-El, even though she was addressing Jesse.

"Your cousin? You mean…" Jesse thought for a moment, remembering her time on the Karry Earth. She had met that Kara's cousin. A man dressed in blue and red with the house of El symbol proudly over his chest. She had also seen him in a normal suit with his family at that Earth's Iris and Eddie's wedding, but had not interacted with him. "Superman?" she suddenly completed with a gasp, the alter-ego's name coming to her first.

"Superman?" Kal spoke up. "I've never been called that in my life," he couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"Not in this universe more like," Kara corrected him. He raised an eyebrow. "Please. Take a seat. We both have some explaining to do," Kara continued.

He didn't argue as he took the couch Kara had jumped over a moment ago. "This is an Earth tradition?" he suddenly asked. "The tree and lights?"

"It's called Christmas," Jesse stated, her arms folded defensively as she looked down at Kal; Kara however sat next to him.

"Oh. Hal Jordan mentioned it once to me. A Western tradition if I remember," Kal mused.

"Forget Christmas," Kara stated quickly, to a mock shocked gasp from Jesse at this outburst, "how did you find me? How can you?"

"Maxima," Kal stated. Kara tensed up immediately. "The Kryptonian High Council discovered her visit to Earth wasn't innocent, that she had discovered a Kryptonian there. They did research, they questioned Maxima and none could believe what they heard… especially since Kara Zor-El is now Leader of the Council."

"I'm heading the council?" Kara couldn't help but breath, forgetting her tenses.

"Also married with children herself," Kal stated, which added to the shock. "She goes by Kara Da-Vernow, but that's beside the point. You see, upon realizing that younger copy of herself was here, she asked me to find out more."

"And you're what? Head of the Kryptonian CIA?" Kara tried. Her humour was suddenly well off.

"CIA?" Kal asked, confused.

"A government organisation… oh, never mind. Continue," Kara stated, waving her hand dismissively.

"I'm part of an intergalactic corporation entrusted with protecting the universe. Kara Da-Ver is… a friend of that corporation." Kal supplied.

"You're a Lantern?" Kara breathed now.

"How do you know about Lanterns?" Kal replied sharply.

"When I was younger..." she looked over at Jesse now; Jesse's eyes meeting hers, Kara looked back at Kal. She sighed, about to reveal a big detail on her cloned memories. "A vicious gang came after me. My mom had locked their leader up in Fort Rozz for crimes I never found out about; they thought that by taking me, mom would release him. I actually still remember the making the recording, begging my mom to save me." She looked away from Kal now, out of the window and away from Jesse too.

The memory wasn't really hers, she knew that, but it was as clear enough that it should have been. She went to touch her neck, to feel the scar that the gang had given her, but she obviously didn't have. It felt so real. "There was no time to get the leader out of Fort Rozz, or at least not in the timescale the gang gave her. I thought I was going to be sent to Rao – not that I truly understood death at such a delicate age – but when it all looked bleak, when death seemed imminent… All I remember was a green light," she looked back to Kal. "A Green Lantern. He had saved me. He took me away from that bad place, I was indebted to him."

At that moment she noticed it on Kal's finger and the memories became so much clearer. He wore a ring. A green ring. Just like the man who had saved her. "He said I would be a hero one day, that I could find myself in the same corporation as him. And well, while I never became a Lantern like him, I have become a hero of this world." She looked up from the ring to the man who wore it.

"Maxima," Kal breathed. "She said you were fighting for Earth, that you had powers of your own." Kara nodded. "One thing doesn't make sense though," he suddenly added.

"What's that?" Kara asked.

"That's the exact same story Kara Da-Ver has. It's why she was offered my position when it became available. She declined it, in favour of the Council."

"She was offered to become a Green Lantern?" Kara asked, avoiding Kal's statement for the moment.

"Indeed. She didn't want the position after she was forced to take it, so she suggested me – her little cousin – to the Guardian Council and they accepted the change up," Kal nodded. "So, how are there two Kara's in this universe, one obviously a lot younger than the one from home?"

"I'm…" Kara glanced to Jesse, who hadn't moved from the tree as she observed the scene playing out before her. "I'm a clone. It's a long story involving super-powered humans called meta-humans and parallel words," Kara tried.

"Her boyfriend's a meta-human speedster who sped into another universe where there was a Kara, a real one, on that Earth – he brought back a hair which a meta-human who could duplicate living things cloned her from. Fast-forward a few months and said boyfriend and Kara went back to that Earth and gained that Kara's memories through alien tech," Jesse supplied, to raised eyebrows from Kal. Kara however glared at her sister for sharing this information, but she simply shrugged at Kara.

"You have a mate on this Earth? Just how Kryptonian are you?" Kal asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"As Kryptonian as I'll ever be," Kara shrugged, "And no, not a mate… well, not exactly –"

"If you say 'it's complicated' to me, I will kick you out!" Jesse snapped at Kara who looked up at her with curiosity now. "They're an item, Mr. El. The biggest will-they/won't-they since Ross and Rachel."

"Ross and…?" Kal glanced between Kara and Jesse now in confusion.

"Pop culture," Kara sighed, not really getting most of that herself. She remembered the other Kara watching the comedy with Alex, but she had no memories of the show itself. That had to be next on her list of things to watch. "I think your friend Hal Jordan would be able to help with that one. Okay, let's stop beating about the bush. I've told you my story, now it's your turn. Tell me all you know, more particularly on how you found me." She folded her arms.

"It wasn't that difficult to be honest," Kal shrugged. "I knew where you were – Central City – and I knew you went by 'Kara' and 'Power Girl' thanks to Maxima, but obviously that was where the trail ended. But how many Kara's are there in Central…?"

"Two?" Jesse supplied comically. "No wait, three? Is it two?"

"One," Kal stated, a bit too harshly to shut Jesse up. "Hal found there was one Kara in Central City, working for Cat Co Media, who created the persona of 'Power Girl' – it was all too easy. Kara Wells recently moved into a new place with her father; this place. And here I am…" Kal sat back, spreading his arms a little in cocky celebration.

"Well that answered one question. Now, why are you here?" Kara asked.

"Are you kidding me?" This was Jesse. "Kara, I love you but you can be stupid sometimes. Maxima obviously alerted this Kryptonian Council of one of their own so far from home when she couldn't bed you. Kal even said his Kara asked him personally to find you. I assume this Council has something to say about unregistered Kryptonians so far away from home?" This she directed to Kal.

"Indeed. Kara Da-Ver doesn't want to let her double do anything she – that is to say you – doesn't want to do, Kara Wells. But I can't guarantee that you'll be allowed to live on this planet for long unless the Council agree in favour to keep you here," he didn't meet either woman's eyes as he said this, but there was silence that met this statement as both women gaped at him.

"The universe where my DNA comes from," Kara suddenly said, a little slowly now, "where my memories also come from…" true, SuperEarth and Earth-3 were different, but their Krypton history seemed to be identical along with Karry Earth as well, "that Krypton was destroyed." Kal couldn't avoid her eyes at this as he gaped at her. "Your mother and father sent you away from the planet before it went up in flames; I was to be your guardian. My parents did all they could to get me off that Krypton, to follow my Kal-El to their chosen destination and raise him. To teach him."

She stood now, pacing in front of Kal as she continued, "I failed. Or at least that Kara did. Oh, Kal survived – he was raised by a nice couple in Kansas; his name was even changed to Clark – but I was trapped in the Phantom Zone, frozen in time until Brainiac 8 released me and Fort Rozz from that place. When I finally landed on Earth my Kal had grown up to become a superhero and a stranger, to fight in the name of Krypton and El without really knowing what it meant."

She stopped in front of Kal now as she looked directly at him. "I have no Kal on this Earth, I have no blood relatives on this planet, but I have family and I have friends, I have a reason to fight and a house to fight for. Sure, Power Girl's symbol, her mantra, isn't as prominent as the Supergirls of other Earths, but damnit I fight for El as much as I fight for Wells and for my friends. I do not want to leave this planet, even if it means returning to Krypton. I may have memories of my home world, of the yellow grass and my dad's firm grip but they aren't mine. My home is Earth and no-one from Krypton or beyond is going to take that away from me!"

Jesse cheered at this, applauding solo as Kara waved for her to be quiet as she glared at Kal-El; the Green Lantern almost smirking back at her as he stood. "I think you've said your piece Kara Wells. I shall relay this to my Kara and undoubtedly will return with a result sooner rather than later."

"I won't leave without a fight," Kara added as Kal moved around the couch to the door.

"My Kara would say the same thing. You may be an alternative, parallel version of my cousin, but you are her right down to the temper. I can't wait to meet you again soon." Kal grinned as he left.

Kara was slightly lost for words now as she stared at where Kal had been, slight disbelief ringing in her ears as she finally turned to Jesse, who hadn't moved from the tree, and felt herself collapse from stress and emotional exhaustion – the last fifteen minutes had been more eventful than her entire first month of life. Jesse ran to her side and caught her before he fell, speeding her to the couch Kal had so recently vacated.

"I think we'll hold off the decorating, yeah?" Jesse asked as Kara groaned.

"I won't leave. He or the Kryptonian Council can't force me to," Kara grumbled as she curled up on the couch, but knowing they could. If a whole Kryptonian army came to Earth to get her they would get the same powers as her. All the heroes on Earth working together could not stop them. Plus, if the Green Lanterns were such friends of Kara Da-Ver, they may come too and there would be nothing to stop them beyond a few meta-humans and a vigilante or two. It was hopeless.

"I think Power Girl will fight another day, Kara." Jesse stated. "Come on, let's watch some telly, get our minds away from… whatever just happened."

"Enterprise," Kara suddenly stated, sitting up. "I want to continue watching Star Trek Enterprise."

"Enterprise it is," Jesse smirked as she sped around to clear the room of rubbish and stray decorations, grabbing the boxset DVD as she did so

"T'Pol will get me through this…" Kara muttered, more to herself as she thought of the lead Vulcan she so admired on the show. A lone Vulcan in a ship of humans – Kara could very much relate to that.

-PowerFlash-

"Well?" the woman sitting in the large office could have been a blond version of Alura Zor-El if it wasn't for the slightly different shaped nose and tired eyes which now looked to the man in black and green, who had just arrived. She had been expecting his return ever since she sent him barely one Kryptonian day ago.

"She's rooted," Kal-El stated as the tapping of paws on marble met his ears and he glanced to the short-haired Yellow Med that trotted to her mistress's desk and lay on the floor by the woman's feet.

"What about her though? How did she come to be?" Kara-Da-Ver asked, leaning forward, waiting for her cousin to give her more news.

"She's a copy. What made her was DNA from a parallel universe. A universe where you and I went to Earth for our own safety," he didn't quite want to go into detail, still processing the fact that somewhere out there was a universe that no longer had a Krpyton. True, as a Green Lantern, he didn't live on Krypton anymore, but it was nice to know it was out there when he needed it. "That DNA made its way to this universe and this Earth where her mate managed to get it cloned and she was the result."

"She has a mate?" Kara now sat up, staring indignantly at Kal-El.

"According to her sister they're mates. I do not know if they have bonded though – I never asked."

"She has a sister too?" Kara stood, her Yellow Med yapping at the sudden movement as she maneuverer around the desk to come face-to-face with Kal now. She ignored the bonded reference; while she loved her husband they had only managed the beginning of the bond after years together, which was strange for two Kryptonians, not unheard of. She really did not want to know if her clone had bonded or not.

"A human family, yes. A father and a sister, she has friends and this mate too. Like I said, she's rooted. She refuses to leave the planet, even if it means coming back here to stay," Kal shrugged. "She has memories too from another you – she knows the values of Krypton, of our birth house, but even then she doesn't want to come. It would be a fight if the Council really want her to come here permanently."

"You will have to face them with me," Kara suddenly stated, putting a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "If I know me, she's as suborn as Astra was, as my mother still is. I wouldn't want to move her unless absolutely necessary. She is not causing trouble as this 'Power Girl', is she?"

"No. She's helping Earth, as Maxima stated. She is a hero of that world. It would be a loss to many if Kara was removed," Kal confirmed.

"Come. We need to plan." She steered Kal around before stopping by the door. "Pal-E," she turned to look at her Yellow Med, "stay and guard." The dog-like creature barked pleasantly at this before standing to attention. Kara-Da-Ver grinned at her pet momentarily before she and Kal left the office.

-PowerFlash-

Christmas was speeding ever nearer. Cisco had finally come back home, but he too had agreed to hold off the universe-hopping until the New Year. Dante was out of hospital too, although Cisco didn't feel inclined to tell his friends what exactly was wrong with him, so out of respect no-one asked. Although Kara had heard the tech geek in deep conversation with Caitlin one evening regarding his brother – she suspected Cisco wanted Caitlin's thoughts on whatever was wrong with Dante to get a wider prospective and a friend's advice.

And yet through all of this neither she, nor Jesse, had told anyone of the Kal incident. He hadn't turned up at her door, or anywhere else, since, so the sisters decided it was best to keep this secret. Neither wanted to worry anyone that Kara could one day no longer be there, or that all the heroes and vigilantes may have to fight some sort of Kryptonan-Lantern army to try and keep Power Girl on American soil. An army Kara was sure they could not defeat and, if it came to it, she would go just to stop her friends from getting hurt.

No news was good news though, as Jesse reminded Kara each and every morning and evening – and neither wanted to spoil Christmas for anyone else, especially their dad, so they both put on good grins and sang along to all the holiday jaunts. Even if Jesse insisted on some less-than-clean lyrics for half the songs Kara had never heard before.

It was Christmas Eve when their 'no news' slogan was thrown in the fire and burnt to cinders, with Barry, Wally and Joe playing a game of Monopoly with Harry and Jesse – with Kara on Barry's team obviously – when there was a knock at the door.

Harry got up to answer it when Kara used her X-Ray vision to see through the plastic once more and her heart sank as she quickly met Jesse's eye. Both girls moved, quicker than Harry, to block the front door from their father.

"What…?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Please. It's…" Kara started, not sure what excuse she was going to give.

"Dad, Barry," Jesse now stated. "You all may want to sit down."

"Please do not tell me you guys ordered some sort of strip-o-gram for us?" Wally asked – he'd had a little too much STAR Labs-made egg nog.

Jesse glared at her boyfriend as she turned to Kara who opened the door.

He wasn't dressed in a suit this time. His outfit was in fact just as Kara remembered from her alternative's childhood memories, even down to the odd circular symbol on his chest. It was Kal-El. Green Lantern Kal-El.

"Hello?" Harry started as Barry moved to Kara's side so quickly it caused Kal to raise an eyebrow.

"Harrison Wells? I'm a, err… friend of Kara and Jesse's here," Kal started.

"That depends on what the Council have decided," Jesse interrupted quickly, not hiding her instant dislike of the man's appearance. "It's Christmas Eve, man – you could at least have waited until January to do this!"

"To do what? Kara? What's going on?" This was Barry now, who looked to Jesse and Kara with worry.

"Can I come in? The snow is rather heavy," Kal asked. Harry indicated he could and Kara and Jesse stepped aside to allow Kal into the apartment. Jesse slammed the door a little too forcefully.

"Well then?" Kara now stated, sounding a lot like the Kryptonian Kara the moment Kal had arrived back in her office nearly a month ago to the day.

"I'll cut to the chase, Miss. Wells. The Council have agreed and it's a sixty-to-forty win of you staying," he couldn't help but grin as he said this.

"Staying? What…? Honey?" Harry now asked looking pale now as he glanced between Kal and Kara.

"Did they not tell you?" Kal asked. "The Kryptonian Council sent me a few weeks ago to assess Kara's situation of being here. Her presence was unauthorised, and after much debate, even words from Kara Da-Ver herself, like I said, the Council voted on her to stay here."

"What?!" Barry now rounded on Kal. "There was never any question of her leaving! She's part of this world, this city, of us and Team Power-Flash! You were not going to take her. Kara, why didn't you tell us?" he now turned to his girlfriend. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you…" Kara muttered, staring into Barry's eyes at this. She could feel how hurt, shocked and upset this new information was for him but she needed him to know that it was okay – after all, she was going to stay. This information hadn't quite sunk in yet though.

"We've got to work on our communication skills…" Barry replied, a little despondent as he grabbed her hands tightly. "But I'm glad you're staying. What would have happened to her if she'd been sent back?" Barry now looked to Kal who was giving the pair a very strange look.

"Without my Kara's and Alura's influence, her very genome could have been unravelled, to remove such a copy from existence. We've had bad experiences with cloning for many years. A scientist cloned himself some decades back, but the clone had no mind. It killed his daughter. Cloning is illegal on Krypton now," Kal answered honestly, Kara feeling a chill go down her spine at this but Kal raised his hands quickly. "But with my Kara's and Alura's influence things would have been different. Alura would have claimed you as a daughter and a member of the house of El. My Kara, Kara Da-Ver, would have been a big sister. With this influence my Kara would have been allowed to keep you under her own watch, to be taught Kryptonian ways… in time you would have been accepted into society as an individual with strong ties to the Leader of the Council. In fact this was the exact last plans member of the council who wanted you back on Krypton suggested. They could see Kara would not let you be destroyed and no one wants to cross Kara."

"I'm glad I never asked before," Kara muttered, although the idea of living on Krypton as her own younger sister, to know her parents once more had some appeal. Still, she was thinking of what 'unravelling her genome' would have been like and couldn't help but shiver as her mind ran wild. Barry's grip on her hand tightened, however.

"She's okay though?" Barry asked. "She can stay? Why was this even a concern though? She wasn't doing anything wrong here."

"She wasn't, I agree, but the Council can be –"

"Stuffy, upper-class tossers with nothing better to do with their life than put others to shame and hell?" Jesse supplied darkly.

"Pretty much," Kal smirked. "Although not Kara. She's trying to modernize the thing. Make them a little more lenient to outside influence. Following in the footsteps of her mother."

"Wait. Hold up." Wally had finally taken everything in, moving over from the dining table to the gathered group. "There's a Kara on your Krypton who's head of this upper-class Council thing?"

"Yes," Kal nodded.

"How old is she?" Wally couldn't help but ask, Kara herself hitting Silver on the arm for such a stupid question. They had explained the Phantom Zone before to him.

"Old enough to know things need to change," Kal stated with a little smirk at the boy. He instantly liked his attitude. "Speaking of which…" Kal pulled from a hidden pocket a bracelet, similar to the one Maxima had worn – this caused Kara to stiffen up quickly again; she was never going to be ready for another Maxima visit. Not when she had Barry so close and personal now.

Kal moved some of the charm-like objects together, he broke another in half and then twisted another until it looked like it was in danger of coming off entirely, but instead the bracelet glowed. "It's nearly Christmas here and my Kara has a present for you, Miss. Wells," as he finished his sentence, something appeared at his heel.

Kara gasped. Jesse squealed. Barry actually laughed.

"Kara gave me a dog?" Kara asked as she dropped to her knees to look at the animal, which looked like a golden retriever.

"She's a Yellow Med. Like her mother," Kal stated. "She's bonded with my Kara, but needed to be removed from the nest sooner rather than later. My Kara thought this was the best compromise. She's almost two in Earth years," he grinned down at Kara, who wasn't quite listening as she stroked the dog's mussel.

The 'Yellow Med' seemed a little scared, surrounded by so many unknown people and faces, but she recognised her mistress in Kara, even if this Kara didn't seem quite right. She was right enough though so she kept close to Kara as the superhero looked up to Kal. "What's her name?"

"Pow," Kal smiled.

"Appropriate" Jesse stated by Kara's side as she fussed the dog. She added in quick explanation, "It's the start of 'Power', so a nice name."

"She's from the house of 'E' like her mother, so her full name is Pow-E," Kal continued, being patient even though he could tell Kara wasn't completely listening to him. He laughed though as the dog wagged her tail at her full name being used.

"Dogs have houses too? How did I not know this?" she glanced to Jesse as she asked this question.

"Maybe there were no dogs on your particular Krypton?" Jesse suggested.

"They were scientifically created nearly five decades ago on my Krypton; there's very few of them about. Pal-E was given to my Kara as a gift for making it to the Council Leader position. She was paired with a male of similar breed and had six children, all but Pow-E left the nest a year ago. It's considered unhealthy on Krypton for one of the… dogs, did you call them? For them to stay with their mother for too long." Kal finished.

"Unhealthy but not wrong, right?" Kara asked, suddenly concerned. She loved the gift – the dog was Kryptonian, like Krypto was on the Karry Earth, and already she seemed strong enough for Kara to pet freely – but to think she had separated mother from child…?

"Pal-E, Pow-E and Kara all agreed that it was for the best," Kal stated. "They're highly intelligent beings. Pow-E will be just as happy here as she was at home with her original mistress."

"I should give you a gift!" Kara suddenly stated, worried. "It's only right. You've given me a freaking dog, assured me of my freedom, and I have nothing!" She looked around worriedly as Kal raised his hands to indicate it wasn't necessary, but Jesse dived to the tree and pulled out a small box from the mass of presents below.

"I was going to give it to Kara tomorrow, but she can wait a few days for me to get another. Please," Jesse handed it to Kal, who looked at the finely wrapped present with curiosity. Opening it, he pulled out a small chain and on it, was the House of El – a necklace just like the one Winn of Earth-3 had given Cisco a few months ago. Only in gold instead of silver. "Power Girl merchandise is getting popular and as that's her symbol…" Jesse supplied.

Kara had Jesse in a hug before her sister could react and Kal smiled appreciatively. "Never have I seen my house on an item of jewellery before. It's… special." Kal stated with a smile.

"Think of it as a positive sentiment of your friends here on Earth," Jesse added.

"What exactly are you though?" Harry spoke up. Kal turned to look at him. "I've never seen that insignia before," he indicated the Lantern emblem.

"I'm a Green Lantern, sir, a guardian of the universe," Kal supplied politely.

"You don't say…" Barry said thoughtfully. "Are there more of you?"

"A whole league of us. Many colours too, but the green ones are the ones who protect. And yes, we come from a wide range of planets. A man called Hal Jordan comes from this planet."

"We have a Green Lantern and no-one told Cisco?" Jesse now asked to Barry, who laughed at this. Cisco would be the one to find out this sort of thing.

"Tell him to pop over from time to time, and yourself too," Barry decided. "We could use 'guardians of the universe' against some of the baddies we face. Just don't come here with bad news." He glanced to Kara.

"No more bad news from me," Kal stated with a smile. "I should really leave now though, before I outstay my welcome."

"Wait," Kara now stated, Pow-E by her heel now, she still giddy with the disbelief that she had a dog she could actually pet, not to mention the fact she wasn't going to be taken to Krypton to be 'unravelled'. "Do you not have powers? I mean like I do? I mean I guess you have the powers of a Green Lantern, but I thought with our yellow sun…?"

"I have not been on this planet long enough to get those power, Kara," Kal confirmed, putting a hand on her shoulder now.

"But I thought they came instantly?" Kara couldn't help but counter. "Mine pretty much did."

Kal shrugged. "Maybe the power of the ring dampens them to start with? Regardless, I haven't felt the effects yet and, no offense, but I don't intent to stay long enough for them to kick in." He smiled apologetically at this as he removed his hand from her shoulder. "I would offer you that same position the previous Kryptonian Green Lantern offered you too, but I think you're doing well here as Power Girl alone. And with family that loves you," he nodded to Jesse, Barry, Harry, Wally and Joe.

"Thanks," Kara whispered, leaning up to quickly kiss her parallel cousin on the cheek.

"Oh wait, before I forget. Aunt Alura would have my head if I didn't do this…" Kal said, grabbing Kara's left hand now as he started talking Kryptonese, the dialect of their home world and something Kara understood, even if she couldn't quite master speaking it. No-one but Kara knew what he was saying, but Kara was shocked at what she heard. Once he was done, he released her hand and then kissed her upon the forehead.

Moving away from Kara now, he smiled at the confused others and, with a flash of green, suddenly the visitor was gone. Kara blinked the green light away as she turned to look at everyone. "Well… Merry Christmas," her eyes watered as Jesse grinned. "You know he does looks better in blue."

Pow-E yapped at Kara's heel as Kara sat down, taking in everything Kal had just said. Pow jumping on the couch and playfully nudged her for more affection, which Kara was more than happy to give. "Kara, what was that?" Barry asked as he sat on the arm of the chair; the others lingered, waiting for the explanation.

"It was Kryptonian tradition." Kara stated, knowing exactly what Barry was referring to. "When a new baby is born, the head of the house welcomes them into the house. Kal stepped in as head to welcome me. They made me an official member of the House of El. Of this universe anyway. He even officially named me the Daughter of Alura." Kara knew there was no way that would be done without Alura allowing it. It meant that, even without meeting her, Alura had accepted her as a daughter just from what Kal had passed on. "It means everything I do; I represent the house as well now." Kara choose not to tell them Kal's last words. Not to say how she had a permanent invite to visit Krypton if she ever wanted to, even for just a day. She would keep that to herself.

-PowerFlash-

Christmas day came and went. New Year followed quickly and before Team Power-Flash knew it, it was January. The first full weekend was fast approaching for Barry and Kara to Earth hop once more. Dante's condition was improving, Cisco was in fine shape himself and Kara had never been happier. She really had liked the cold holiday as Jesse intoned she would have.

She had even unofficially rechristened her dog to 'Powie' – it made more sense on a human standard, even if the dog still believed Kara was calling her by her proper name. Kara loved her dog though. Powie had taken a little while to get used to her new, slightly different, mistress, but they seemed to have bonded well. As a special Kryptonian breed, she hadn't needed training and obeyed Kara's word – she was even listening to Jesse when the mood took her, as Jesse seemed to spend as much time with Powie as Kara did. Powie also had a very special connection to the sun too, considering her superior strength to other dogs, not to mention the laser eyes, ability to fly, and a very booming bark – these were the only things Kara had to train her pet with, however.

In spite of this, Kara trusted her pet not to destroy the apartment and had left her with Jesse this evening as Kara and Barry stood in STAR Labs on a Thursday. They were going over the final details on the Earth hopping they had to do, along with any new additions to Earth-3 they needed to be informed about.

"There's some new additions to Team Supergirl over there," Cisco stated in his chair as he addressed the pair; Harry and Martin stood off from them – they had been working on something not yet revealed to the superheroes. "Alongside Supergirl herself is of course our very own Malcolm Garrick and his dad, although they seem to remain based in Central City, which is about an hour away from National, but Kara also has some Martian girl with her –"

"A Martian?" Martin asked from his corner.

"Yeah, I told you Professor. Remember that J'onn J'onzz character? He's a Green Martian. I think the woman is his niece, but I can't vouch for it," he continued addressing the pair. "And there's someone called 'Mon-El' there. I think he's a Kryptonian, but I can't be sure…"

"El?" Kara asked, "As in the House of El? Because I don't remember anyone called 'Mon' in my family. Oh, this will be fun!" She clapped her hands together, although didn't see the odd look Cisco was giving her.

"So, oh-eighteen-hundred hours' tomorrow?" Barry asked.

"Oh course," Cisco nodded with a grin. "Ah, and there's something else…"

"Yeah?" Barry asked.

"I'm coming too" Cisco suddenly announced to the pair.

"What?" Kara asked. "But I thought this was a mission for just Barry and me?"

"Well it is, but since I haven't spoken to Earth-3's Winn, I kind of owe him an apology. That and I want to test out something and with you busy fighting whatever –"

"We don't go to other Earths just to fight things," Barry pointed out, folding his arms.

"I know that," Cisco reasoned, "but it's inevitable. When you went to Harry's Earth you fought Killer Frost and Deathstorm before being kidnapped by Zoom, then when you went to Earth-3, the first time there was that Shrieky and Sparky," he had two fingers raised in count at this, Barry opened his mouth to counteract him, but Cisco continued. "Then SuperEarth the first time, you and that Kara faced off to Zoom there. Then there's the recent times –"

"Okay, okay!" Barry raised his hands as Kara couldn't help but giggle. "Maybe I do get into some scrapes when I Earth hop, but I don't see why you need to come."

"I want to test out my first ever multiverse communications array. This time I promise to remain in conversation with that Winn," Cisco announced proudly.

"What about Dante though?" Kara asked, remembering Cisco's brother.

"He'll be find for a few days, plus if I'm really needed back on this Earth…" he clicked his fingers, indicating his Vibe powers. "Relax guys, I know what I'm doing."

"Well, okay then," Barry muttered, a little cautiously. "But remember there's no STAR Labs there, no Harry or another Cisco to help…"

"There may be," Cisco suddenly pointed out. "They maybe just don't go by Harrison Wells or Cisco Ramone there. You guys do know I'm actually Francisco, right?"

"I… I did not," Barry stammered, a little taken aback by this news. "I kind of thought…"

"Well that explains why you couldn't find me there. Or at least I hope," Cisco speculated. It was possible that he didn't exist there after all.

"Francisco, huh?" Kara pointed out. "And here I was thinking 'Cisco' alone was a strange human name…"

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Post-chapter note 1: Thanks everyone for the kind messages regarding my lack of computer recently. Obviously I have a new one now – a nice cheap but lovely (it was on sale) Lenovo Ideapad (basically a notebook). It's quite nice actually and I'm just about used to it already. Anyway, because of this I have reviews/PMs to reply to and will get to that later today/tomorrow, so please expect imminent communication from me shortly if you've been expecting it.

Post-chapter note 2: How did we all like the new _Flash_ last week too? I hope we're excited for the premier of _Supergirl_ season 2 later? Being so in-deep with Karry (both Karry Universe and Power Girl) I honestly expected new Flash to seem weird to me, but I think being in the Flashpoint Universe did helpfully quell my need to see Kara and Barry together instantly. New Supergirl may not help as much there though – although I'm looking forward to literally everything but James there. And _Arrow_ was kind of meh-ish. I've lost faith in that show now to be honest, but it's only one in four. Speaking of… the trailer to _Legends_ season 2! That was amazing! Can't wait for the season, for Vixen and for the mega-crossover!


	17. Third Time's the Charm

Note: I am so, so, so, so, so sorry for the delay it's taken me in getting this next episode up. As my beta stated in her story, real-life has taken me by the balls and won't let go (too graphic?). It's delayed a lot of things. Anyway, I hope this chapter more than makes up for the hellish delay, and I promise you all that the next episode will only be a few day's wait – coming up on Tuesday, Flash day!

Dedication: Okay, the lazy-man's dedication again, but dedicating this episode to all you lovely readers, for both being so patient and because I think this chapter is good enough to have something special in it for everyone! Please enjoy and REVIEW.

Episode Seventeen – Third Time's the Charm

Kara and Barry had arrived at Joe's place. They had just come back from their STAR Labs briefing on what to expect tomorrow when they got back to Earth hopping and to Earth-3. Barry had planned a special meal between the pair of them, and had kindly asked Joe, Iris and Wally to be elsewhere so he could have the house to himself so he was nervous but also excited.

"You know I can't stay over tonight though Barry," Kara was saying, slightly distracted as she closed the front door behind her and shook off her coat. It may be January and still cold out, but she didn't feel that cold – the coat was for appearances only.

"Yeah, I know," Barry called moving over to the kitchen instantly. "You have a dog to feed and a sister to giggle with," he added, sticking his head out of the kitchen door to poke his tongue out at Kara, who moved over to the dining table.

"I still can't believe I have Powie," Kara couldn't help but smile as she thought of her dog. "She's taken a shine to my Krypto toy too – Karry's Cisco made that strong enough that even she can toss it about in play too."

"Neat," Barry commented, not properly listening as he retreated back into the kitchen and moved over to the fridge. Joe had prepared a chicken for him to cook, he just needed to follow his foster father's instructions. It couldn't be that hard. He had watched Joe prepare and cook the turkey at Christmas after all. It had been his first Christmas without his father though. even when his dad was in jail Joe had made sure to take him to see him near Christmas time and it had felt empty knowing he was not there, so Barry had been pleased to keep lingering around his foster dad, with Iris and Wally in constant company – it had been Wally's first Christmas without his mom too, so they had bonded slightly more over that.

Kara sat down at one of the tables, staring through the wall at Barry fussing as she wondered on the information Cisco had just given them. She wondered who Mon-El was. Before they'd returned to Joe's she had looked through the data archive Kara Danvers had given her via her mother's hologram but there was nothing on that name. The closest she could come up with was Mol-El, an ancestor of hers and Clark's, and considering this was the same Earth, that wasn't good.

But what about that Martian woman? Cisco had said she was J'onn's niece… but J'onn had no family left. Unless he had lied to Kara and Alex Danvers last year? That wasn't beyond his abilities. He'd never revealed his true identity as a Green Martian until quite late in the game after Supergirl had been established, and he'd helped keep the secret on Astra's death, letting Kara blame him instead of Alex for her aunt's untimely demise. On reflection, that Earth seemed a little more screwed up than she realised, especially compared to the life she now had on this Earth.

"I said what vegetables do you like?" Barry's voice seemed to carry across a great distance as Kara looked up at him.

"Huh? Oh. Err, I don't know – the usual? I have no preferences," Kara stated as Barry gave her an odd look.

"For someone with super-hearing…" Barry started before changing tact, "you're distracted?"

"Yeah, sorry, thinking on what Cisco told us of Earth-3. I knew things would move on there, but I didn't realise by how much. I wonder if they'd found Jeremiah yet? Or stopped Project Cadmus?"

"Project Cadmus?" Barry asked as he vanished in a flash, Kara watching him quickly put carrots, peas and mushrooms into a pan and put it on one of the hobs before returning. Had Kara been anyone else, this act wouldn't have taken more than a second and she wouldn't have noticed his vanishing, but it seemed like an eternity as she waited for him to come back to explain Cadmus – or at least what she knew of it.

Barry took the seat opposite her at the table, looking a little flustered as she now raised her eyebrow at him. "You don't need to go to such trouble at getting dinner…" she started.

"Yeah I do. Do you not realise the date?" He asked, a little smugly.

"Date?" Kara asked, suddenly worried she'd missed something. She knew anniversaries were important but she couldn't think of what that was today.

"Four months since you came back," he grinned, "from ARGUS I mean. When I was all messed up over dad's death."

"Oh," Kara didn't know what to say to this. She hadn't honestly been keeping track of the time and with all she'd been through, especially getting Kara Danvers memories, it had felt much longer.

"If it wasn't for you I would have run back in time and saved my mom and well… I dunno, you may not have existed when I got back," Barry bit his lip at this. When he had been planning on going back the Kara clone was not even a thought in his mind. Now he was so glad she had stopped him from making possibly the biggest mistake ever.

"Would you have gone back to stop yourself preventing her death if things got too weird?" Kara asked, suddenly interested in this idea of time travel and how it could have affected the timeline.

"I… I don't know," Barry answered truthfully. "I had feelings for Iris before I met you so something could have happened there but to watch the Reverse-Flash kill mom yet again," Barry's voice faltered, Kara could tell he now didn't know what he was saying or what he would do so he changed tact. "So, Project Cadmus?" He changed topic, wanting away from this discussion.

Kara let out a breath of air as she leaned back in the chair. "It's cliché," she began, deciding not to question the change or bring it up at all. "A secret government organisation dealing with aliens and, who know, maybe meta-humans too? Like an anti-ARGUS or DEO."

"And they have the other Kara's foster dad?" Barry asked.

"Yep. Alex and Eliza thought he was dead for so long, even J'onn J'onzz thought so too until he looked into this government guy's brain and saw Jeremiah alive," Kara stated.

"That must be so weird. Someone you thought was long-dead never having been. How did Alex and Eliza react?" Barry asked, knowing Kara Danvers' sister and foster mom a little through this Kara.

"Not well," Kara stated. "Alex went nuts and kept the information from Eliza until it was forced from her and Eliza… well, she doesn't want to hold up hope from what I can recall."

"And Kara?" Barry asked, curious about the other Kara's feelings towards her foster dad.

"She only knew Jeremiah for a few months – he was even the one to tell her that the world didn't need another superhero and told her to be normal. She's kind of torn by his existence. On the one hand she never had that father figure when she got to Earth and doesn't know the man, but on the other hand he's Alex's dad, Eliza's husband. She loves those two; they raised and cared for her when her parents and even Clark could not. If Jeremiah's return makes them happy then she'd be happy for them."

"She doesn't know Jeremiah," Barry confirmed nodding to himself, "I can see how that would work."

"You can?" Kara raised an eyebrow, a small smirk on her face now.

"Wally didn't know Joe until he was forced to when Francine was dying and after her death… well, he's part of Team Power-Flash now isn't he? So, it could be an equal happy ending for Kara Danvers and Jeremiah," Barry said, hoping for the best for the Earth-3 Kara, but also knew the two could never click together as father and daughter.

"Fair point," Kara stated, not knowing herself how she felt about this. She knew what Kara Danvers had seen and experienced until only a few months ago so she could relate to her in this matter, but Barry did have a point. Jeremiah would have to make up for telling her not to be a hero first though before they started breaking down walls, as Kara Danvers loved being Supergirl.

"Tell me about Earth-3," Barry suddenly requested. "We have some time until dinner's ready and I want to be prepared. We weren't that prepared for Karry Earth even with Jesse telling us what she knew, and we were nowhere near ready for SuperEarth with Faora and Astra being alive – I need to know as much as possible up to what you know, and it may help to refresh your memories? I seem to recall Kara Danvers saying your Earth memories would be foggier than your Kryptonian ones."

"Yeah, good point," Kara stated, "I suppose a refresh would be good before we go there tomorrow."

-PowerFlash-

"Karen!" Cat Grant called to her assistant, Kara just outside of the office door as she took in the new layout. The refurbishment of CatCo Picture News' office was complete – contrary to previous belief, Cat had insisted her part of the paper be moved to the top floor as she couldn't get used to the ground floor access and being that close to the public. It was true that there were residential properties in the block CatCo now took resident in, but they had been kindly paid and relocated down the road, giving Cat free reign of the entire building.

"Yes, Ms. Grant?" Kara moved into the large, airy office, reminding her every bit of the place back on Earth-3 and having to remind herself that she wasn't on that world. At least, not yet. The refreshers course she had given Barry and herself last night was still clear in her head, and this new, yet familiar, environment wasn't helping.

"How can we have a big re-opening on Monday if the rest of the staff aren't even here to get this place up and running?!" Cat demanded as she indicated behind Kara the empty office. Yes, desks and computer monitors were all set up, filing cabinets were still being put into place and the final wiring was still on-going, but there was a considerable lack of staff.

"It is seven in the morning, Ms. Grant," Kara pointed out, indicating the sunrise outside. It was January too, after all.

"That's no excuse," Cat stated as she moved around her Perspex and wood desk to sit on one of the two couches she had positioned earlier that morning. "Do you know what time I woke this morning?"

"No, Ms. Grant," Kara dared not estimate.

"Five AM! I was in this office at six to start my final set up of this place to be ready for… well, now," Cat stated, glancing out of the window too herself before looking back to Kara. "What time did you get in?"

"Well, only a few minutes ago. You asked me in for seven," Kara pointed out a little foolishly.

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" Cat stood again, restless now. "I expect the relocation not to affect my other staff, but if it should… Do we know when Eileen is coming in?"

"She tries to be here at eight each morning," Kara pointed out.

"Hmm," Cat thought politely. "Still… Remind me of the progress on the other floors." She changed topic.

"Well the first floor will be undergoing severe reconstruction throughout this afternoon and the weekend to establish the reception, interview rooms and guest areas for Monday. The first floor has been prepared for the radio division for several weeks now," Kara had her tablet in hand, reading off the roster. "CatCo Television has been set up on the third floor too, with web-based media allocated a sizable section on the same floor. Finance take up the fourth and fifth floors – again, they've been set up for some time now. Tech take up the sixth floor and moved up to that floor last weekend once they vacated the first floor. The seventh-through-tenth floors are still waiting allocation and reconstruction following the evacuation of the residential apartments these past few months and the tenth floor meeting rooms have just been finished this week. We take up the eleventh floor… progression you can clearly see," she indicated around herself to the office at large.

"I took a great risk setting up a secondary base here in Central City," Cat now stated as she moved to the glass doors of her new office to look at floor beyond. A few technicians were still wiring up the last internet connections through the walls. "I asked many residents to move out of this property, risked thousands of dollars in doing this office block up… I hope it's worth it."

"CatCo Picture News has been the number one news outlet in Central ever since you came here, Ms. Grant," Kara reassured her boss. "This move was inevitable, many of the residents saw it coming and they made sure to get their money's worth…" Kara tried not to smirk to herself at this. The people who had been living up here had made sure they were paid well for their apartments before agreeing to move.

"This is the start, you know, Karen," Cat wasn't listening as she turned back to Kara, who shut her mouth quickly. "My empire. First I established myself in National, I keep hold of that – Ms. Smythe is doing excellently there, I may add – then I expand to another city. If that holds I move to a third and then… well, CatCo will soon give the Daily Planet a run for its money. I can do this."

"I know you can," Kara stated, a little too firmly as she reflected back on Earth-3; Cat had her empire already there.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Karen," Cat gave the smallest smile at her assistant before sighing to herself once more. "I would have done this all ten, fifteen years ago of course, but I had my first son to contend with. I thought of giving him up. There was a major custody battle with his father. I had all the paperwork filled out and was ready to fight, but then I paused, thinking Adam would be better off with his dad. His father had money, a good job, and I thought at the time was a better parent. I was ready to give up my son but then his father died. Quite unexpectedly and very sad. I had a choice, let his grandparents raise him while I started my empire or be a mother? I thought about concentrating on my career but I just couldn't. I remember looking into his little eyes, that face…" Adam Grant was still in National City. Kara had heard the stories that differentiated this Cat from that of Earth-3 but had never had anything confirmed from the horse's mouth before.

"I knew when I had Adam that I had two roads to go down," Cat now established, "to raise my son, or to perfect my career. I was so close to going with the latter when I knew that my career could wait. What was a few years compared to being a mother? I knew what I had to do. I took a pause; although I didn't completely sit still. I made sure CatCo Media in National City would survive, would run for decades to come and I didn't do it lightly. When Adam was fourteen I thought it was time, that I would finally expand but a one-night-stand in Gotham sought another pause in plans when Carter came along."

Cat was revealing a lot as she paced the office, speaking aloud to Kara alone now as Kara took this all in. "I wasn't going to do what I did with Adam though. I had money, I had friends and I had childcare. I sought media outlets like here in Central City, another in Blüdhaven, a third in Opal City and yes, even one in Gotham. All ready for expansion for when I call on it. Only when Carter reached a reasonable age though did I feel comfortable coming here first, to the meta-human capital of the world to begin my expanse. And in another ten years? Who knows. Maybe I would have succeeded. I may already be there if it wasn't for my children, but I don't regret my decisions for one second," she sounded so firm on this point and Kara found herself quite breathless.

She remembered the ordeal Cat Grant of Earth-3 had gone through to establish CatCo Worldwide Media; she had given up Adam, had lost his love until Kara Danvers had intervened and fixed a few things, but all that was on one decision, one coin-toss in a multiverse of possibilities. Kara wondered what Cat Grant of Earth-3 would say and think of her doppelganger of this Earth. Would she approve of the decisions, the life not lead and realize the trivialities of her chosen profession, or would she stick to her guns, believe what she did and the choices she had made were the right ones, in spite of the outcome?

These thoughts ran through Kara's mind the entire rest of the day as she found herself running from floor to floor, skipping lunch and even overseeing the start of the vigorous transformation of the ground floor in the new reception area. She was even beginning to think they had chosen the wrong weekend to Earth-hop to Earth-3, considering how much Cat may need her this weekend, until Iris turned up at her desk while Cat was in a meeting.

"You okay?" Iris asked as Kara ran a hand through her hair for the millionth time.

"Yeah, just… I didn't realize how much effort was put into this stuff," Kara revealed as she looked up to Iris.

"I thought you had experience?" Iris muttered, crouching down to remain on eye-level, "you know, dealing with all of Cat's… Cat-ness."

"Yeah, but that was in a life where Cat had everything established. There, I essentially just manned the phones and took notes; here I need to be a thousand other roles along with being Ms. Grant's PA. I honestly don't know if I'll be able to go with Barry tonight. He wants it to be me, but if I have to bail on him…" Kara spoke with great speed she was surprised Iris understood what she'd said.

"Hey, listen," Iris continued to whisper so only Kara could hear her. "I've seen what you've been doing; I started this whole thing when Ms. Grant forced me to be her temp. PA – I can cover you for the weekend. Just as long as you're back by Monday and if it's like the other two places you've gone to, you'll be back with time to spare."

"I hope so," Kara sighed. "I need to be at STAR for six and that's just three hours away. Do you have any idea what else I need to do?"

"No. But if you give me some of it now I can take the load off you. Two heads, and all that…" Iris shrugged.

"But your paper…?" Kara started.

"Finished it at lunch. I've just been googling stuff since and made myself look busy," she tried to hide the grin of satisfaction as she said this, "it's lucky Cat hasn't got strict security on the computers yet. Look, send over any tasks you've yet to start my way and I'll continue them. I'll even work through the weekend if it eases you off. You're only going to be re-establishing a major company in a new city once, after all."

Kara could have cried with pleasure at this as she immediately stopped what she was doing to allocate work to Iris – which proved to be a lot – freeing up the rest of her day considerably. In fact, by the time 5:45 came around and Kara was finishing off her last bits before heading off to STAR, her work load was practically complete. Iris was happy to take over the rest of the tasks and was even going to stay as late as possible before being kicked out to do them. It meant she wasn't going to see them off to Earth-3, but Kara didn't mind that – she was getting used to a smaller staff at STAR to send them to other words anyway.

Therefore, she sped into the Labs with five minutes still to go as she stopped before Cisco, Martin and Barry, already in her Power Girl outfit as Barry was in his Flash suit. She grinned at the gathering, even if she felt more tired than even her solar-powered cells could alleviate.

"You alright?" Barry asked instantly, putting his palm to her forehead before stroking her cheek. "You're flushed and sweating."

"Ms. Grant," Kara provided simply. "Like I said the other day, she's reopening CatCo Picture News as the official new branch of CatCo Media – it's not peaches and cream when it comes to that sort of thing. She's been working me to the ground since seven. I thought my powers… but it doesn't matter."

"You have raised adrenaline levels and your blood pressure is higher than usual," Caitlin spoke, causing Kara to jump at not having seen her at the computers. "The suit…" Caitlin added as Kara blinked at her, indicating that the suit indeed provided her with the information.

"I'll be fine. I'm sure once we get to Kara Danvers' place and I get a good night's rest I'll be back to my own perfect heath," Kara stated.

"Well, if you start feeling poorly…" Caitlin tried, indicating the El symbol on her chest, rigged to give her a solar burst should she need it.

"Duly noted," Kara nodded as she turned to look at Cisco. "You're coming too, right?"

"Yep," Cisco was fiddling with some equipment he was sorting into a backpack as he said this, Martin overlooking him, and Caitlin stood, moving over to Barry and Kara now.

"Cisco has this… multiverse communications array thing he and Martin have been sorting out these past few weeks. It needs someone here on this side to activate as both ends need to be sorted, but he didn't really chose the best Earth to start this," she glanced back to Cisco at this.

"What? The DEO is only a militaristic STAR Labs. I'm sure I can convince that Martian dude it's a good idea, especially as we have Power Girl over here and if he needs back up…"

"They have a Superman," Caitlin countered, "and The Flash and Malcolm in Central City. Not to mention those other vigilantes you've been seeing recently."

"Other vigilantes?" Barry now asked, "you didn't mention vigilantes yesterday!" He now complained to Cisco.

"Nopes, I didn't," Cisco stated simply as Martin handed over a pair of metal gloves Barry dared not ask about.

"Okay," Barry sighed, giving Caitlin a look now as she shrugged.

"Look," Cisco glanced up from the backpack to his three concerned friends. "As long as I can set up this array system, it should be find. If Marvin the Martian doesn't want it, Winn can sort something out – he works for the DEO now –"

"Winn works for the DEO?!" Kara suddenly snapped. "I thought he was still with Cat?"

"That job was going nowhere. I saw a few weeks ago him setting up base in the DEO – they have this fancy new facility and everything… even saw Superman," he smirked at Kara at this.

"We get to work with Kal," Kara realized suddenly, glancing to Barry; a little excited to meet a version of Kal who was Superman. "If he's with the DEO, or at least teaming with the other Kara…"

"I can't promise you anything," Cisco now stated, "it's just what I've been seeing. If I can get this coms system set up, then there's no end of possibilities. Hell you can talk to any Clark of any world you want to once I get this thing set up on other Earths. Like Karry's Clark or the one on SuperEarth, and who knows what other Earths once we start really exploring!" He pulled the cord on his backpack at this, shutting the contents within as he threw the flap over and stood now.

"Hey, you didn't say we'd be explorers," Barry now stated. "I quite like keeping my feet firm on this Earth."

"I don't need to recruit you if I have other Earths" Cisco replied, a little too bluntly as Barry raised an eyebrow at this.

"So, who goes first?" Kara cut the argument off before it began. "As you're going with us," she added to Cisco.

"Yeah, so I was thinking Superheroes first, followed by me," Cisco stated, ignoring the indignant look on Barry's face now. "That way if I take you some place I shouldn't, you'll at least be more prepared than I would be."

"Some place you shouldn't? Where exactly do you plan on dropping us off?" Kara now asked.

"Hey, it's a different Earth to what you're used to," Cisco shrugged. "Who knows what could be waiting for you."

"You could, _Vibe_ ," Barry pointed out.

"Okay. Just open a portal. Close to Kara Danvers," Kara Wells now instructed.

"Can do, ma'am!" Cisco saluted as he hauled the backpack over his shoulders, glanced to Martin and Caitlin before pushing his Vibe goggles onto his head. As usual, he outstretched his fingers, concentrating, and the familiar blue ripple expanded from his fingertips, widening quickly into a large, spinning portal that whipped his, Kara and Caitlin's hair about in a maelstrom.

"Ladies' first!" Barry smirked to his girlfriend as he held out his hand.

"Nice try, idiot," Kara smirked as she grabbed his arm and pulled him through the breach.

-PowerFlash-

They didn't expect the destruction that awaited them on the other side of the breach; not even Vibe had predicted that as they arrived in a pile of rubble, dust and confusion. It was easy for people not to have noticed their arrival as there were shouts for help, cries and calls.

A rush of air announced the arrival of Supergirl though and Barry and Kara looked up to see the woman in blue flying overhead – although only Kara could see the look of sheer fear on her doppelganger's face. She looked back to Barry who gave her a nod before shooting up into the air and joining Supergirl.

"You!" Supergirl cried, a smile coming across her face as Power Girl positioned herself in front of her.

"What happened?" Power Girl asked, not wasting time as she looked down and around. "Hang on. This was Lord Technologies!"

"Yeah," Supergirl sighed. "I'll explain properly soon. We need to help."

"I brought Barry," Power Girl supplied.

"The more the merrier," Supergirl nodded as she swooped down. Power Girl watched for a moment as her Earth-3 double lifted rubble to release a woman trapped below; there was a flash of light as people started vanishing, moving off to a safe distance away from the remains of Lord Technologies thanks to the Flash. Power Girl then swooped down herself.

"I'm here to help," Power Girl stated to a shocked man in his forties, who didn't complain as he winced in reply – a large chunk of rock, a former part of the building's external structure, was trapping his arm. "I'm going to take you to the hospital, but I need you to breathe for me. I can't let you go into shock." Power Girl instructed as calmly as possible; noticing the Flash zipping to and fro and Supergirl dealing with a young woman in the same manner as she was now dealing with this man.

"Okay, on three, two…" she lifted the rubble from the man, who screamed aloud as in one swift movement she grabbed him in one arm and let the rubble fall back onto empty ground with the other. The Flash appeared in front of her at this point and Kara didn't even need to ask why as she handed over the whimpering man to the speedster who sped him off to the local hospital immediately after.

It took more than twenty minutes to clear the rubble and make the ground safe before Power Girl and Supergirl could finally speak to one another and emergency services started playing their parts. She noticed a CatCo helicopter above and couldn't help but smile as she watched Supergirl survey the area a final time before landing by her white-cladded double.

"It's Cadmus," Supergirl explained as simply as possible. "They launched an all-out attack against the world they claim to be protecting. First it was Metallos, then it Lava Lady –"

"Lava Lady?" The Flash asked as he caught the tail end of the conversation, Power Girl and Supergirl back on the pavement now.

"Yeah, this woman who… well they'd changed her DNA on the molecular level to something like, well, lava; Winn will explain better," Supergirl dismissed.

"What did this though?" Power Girl asked, looking back at the remains of Lord Technologies. "Because I doubt Max would…"

"Oh, Max has been out of town for months now. No, this was something worse. Three things worse. Come on, I'll take you two back to the DEO. They can explain further," Supergirl muttered, about to take to the air when the Flash pointed out;

"Err, three? Where's Cisco?" He and Power Girl looked around, worried. The thought of their friend not even having came to them until now.

"He was just behind us!" Power Girl muttered, looking worried now. "You don't think…"

"It's fine guys." Their earpieces sparked to life, both jumping at Cisco's voice. "I took you to Kara, but I took me to Winn."

"You're with Winn?" Barry asked.

"Oh yeah. You guys should see this place! It's amazing!" Cisco chimed in excitedly.

"The DEO?" Power Girl asked. "Been there, it's not bad…"

"It's not there anymore," Supergirl almost sang in response before Cisco could reply. "Come on. I'll show you the new and improved DEO."

The Flash took the streets while Power Girl flew alongside her somewhat double, noticing the eyes of the people below – many knew the Flash from his previous times here, but none had seen the Kryptonian in white before. This was one for the records and Kara Wells wondered what CatCo Worldwide Media would make of this. Would Cat brand her Power Girl here or go with something more simple, like Supergirl-2?

They didn't know where they were going though until they got there. An opening in the side of a skyscraper revealed the hidden secrets within as the Flash sped up the walls to the opening and both he and Kara Wells gasped as they took in the new facility.

"Okay, yes, this is cool," Barry muttered with a smirk.

"I kinda liked the Cave," Kara Wells pouted as Cisco came into view, followed quickly by a grinning Winn and a rather sombre looking Alex. It was odd seeing this version of her mentor, even with the memories of the Kara here and seeing two similar versions on Karry Earth and Superearth – Prime Alex had longer hair and blond highlights, had a different swagger to her step and never looked at Kara the way this one was looking at Supergirl.

"I'm sorry," Alex stated before any introductions could be made. "It was my fault. The DNAngels…"

"Don't," Kara Danvers stopped her sister. "It's done. Not even a DEO taskforce could have stopped that."

"I'm sorry, DNAngels?" Kara Wells spoke up; Barry closing his mouth as he was about to ask the same question.

"Three genetically engineered women," Hank Henshaw appeared, as if from nowhere to greet the two newcomers, taking both Kara Wells and Barry's hands in a silent handshake as he continued to explain, "Project Cadmus gained access to Superman's DNA during their first open attack via Metallo which is what they needed to release all hell on us."

"Still doesn't explain much," Barry pointed out, folding his arm as he glanced to Cisco.

"Well I think it was the missing ingredient," Winn spoke up now, "Hi, Barry!" he added as he pulled the Flash into a sudden hug and Barry couldn't help but smile before releasing the geek. "Well they have all these projects, don't they? It seems fair they had these three on the back-burner waiting for the right ingredient to make them perfect. I want cake now. Sorry."

"Still doesn't help," Kara Wells muttered, grinning at Winn despite this as she added, "and I explained Cadmus to him last night too!"

Winn turned on his heel, running to a bank of computers as he pulled up extraordinary footage. Three identical woman, in appearances at least, fighting either Superman or Supergirl at one stage or another over the past month it seemed – one seemed similar to Barry as she sped circles around a disorientated Kara before throwing a punch that sent her flying; the second was on fire, literally, as she fought with Superman, who's skin actually seemed to singe on every attack as she seemed equally matched to him; the third seemed to look ordinary but was fighting Supergirl without even touching her, fighting off attacks telekinetically, it seemed.

"Yikes…" was all Kara could mutter as she watched the scenes.

"They're at least part-Kryptonian," Hank now stated. "Able to do more harm than anything not of similar powers. All Project Cadmus." He nodded to Winn to turn off the footage before turning back to Kara Wells and Barry. "Your arrival couldn't be more opportune. We need all hands on deck to help with this."

"What about Superman or… the Flash? Of this world I mean." Barry hesitated to ask.

"They have Jay Garrick," Alex pointed out. "We have his son in this facility. He's informed us of Power Girl and his double though." She smirked at Kara Wells at this.

"He's my double," Barry pointed out, raising a finger at this. He was technically the original. Malcolm was made by Duplicate after all.

"Whatever, Allen. The point is we need all the help we can get. Superman's literally on speed-dial, we have Kid Flash –"

"Kid Flash?" Barry now scoffed not liking the name and not wanting to believe Malcolm was going by that.

"And we have you two. Three Kryptonians and two Flashes. That should be an equal match for these DNAngels," Alex stated, ignoring Barry's bemusement at Malcolm Garrick's given superhero name.

"The same ones that destroyed Lord Technology's?" Barry pointed out.

"It'll be like a League of Justice though!" Winn pointed out suddenly as Cisco 'ohh'ed at this, turning to look at his friend. Kara Wells and Barry glanced at one another but said nothing though. They knew an Earth where a 'Justice League' was already well and truly formed after all.

"I like that. I've been trying to think of a name like that for ages as we have three Flashes, Power Girl and a tonne of meta-humans on our team and 'Team Power-Flash' just doesn't cover it all anymore. Quick had an article on her with something useful a few months back but…"

"Quick?" Winn asked, intrigued.

"Gentlemen," Hank cut in before Cisco could explain.

"Sorry," Winn and Cisco looked down at this, but both smirked still. Barry wasn't sure whether Winn and Cisco were good for one another or not here, but realised the Winn of his home Earth was definitely more subdued than this version.

"Do we know when the DNAngels will attack next?" Kara Wells now brought the attention back to the conversation at hand.

"I've worked out an algorithm that paces their activity throughout the city, but I haven't yet been able to find a regular base of operations or even a pinpoint on where they would strike next. If I had…" Winn let his voice fall, indicating the destruction of the Lord building.

"I can help," Cisco stated, almost immediately. "Two heads are better than one, plus I've been doing this longer than you have. It would take several hours though."

"Then you two get right on it," Hank immediately order the pair, who nodded and moved off to the bank of computers located at the back of the base.

"I need to get back to CatCo. I have an article to write for Mr. Carr before the end of the day. Plus I need to get this latest attack written up. Perhaps he'd approve of this one. And give me a chair." Kara Danvers sighed.

"Wait, you're a reporter?" Kara Wells cut in, "but I thought…"

"Long story," Kara Danvers stated. "Alex, you have a key, perhaps you can entertain these two until later? We can have pizza tonight. I'll grab it on the way back."

"As long as Hank…" Alex started, looking to her boss who shrugged.

"Until Mr. Schott and Mr. Ramone have worked out the DNAngels next attack, there's little else we can do here. Enjoy your evenings, Mr. Allen and Miss. Wells," he smiled politely at the pair before moving off, Kara Danvers raising an eyebrow to her sister who shrugged. Supergirl shot into the air and out of the building as the superhero pair turned their attention to the elder Danvers sister.

-PowerFlash-

"This isn't going to work," Cisco sighed after a few hours as he rolled back his chair in frustration; Winn had been dropping off and the sudden noise and moment caused him to jerk awake and look around in panic.

"Oh? What…?" he blinked at Cisco at this. "The algorithm's not going to work?" He yawned as he rubbed his eyes.

"No. It's just running around in circles. These… DNAngels did you call them?"

"It's what Cadmus dubbed them actually. Along with an announcement that they were to eradicate all the aliens on this planet," Winn yawned dismissively. "It's getting rather repetitive to be honest with you. They did it with Metallo and even with Lava Lady. Mostly the same message about taking out aliens. Even the people who don't like Superman and Supergirl are getting sick of it."

"It's a terrible name too. DNA Devils would be more appropriate. Although that's from our viewpoint with the 'evil aliens' they are supposed to take out actually being the good guys. I guess I can see why they called them that. Anyway, there's too much interferences, too much erratic behaviour to grab a lock on." Cisco sighed as he moved back over to his computer. "I have an idea, but it may take all night…"

"Another all-nighter?" Winn groaned. "Hank's not going to like that."

"Hank is J'onn J'onzz's right?" Cisco suddenly changed tact, looking to his friend.

"Uh-huh, yeah, why?" Winn shrugged.

"Why don't you just call him J'onn instead of Hank?" He'd been dying to know this ever since he discovered the DEO leaders alter-ego.

"You don't go calling Kara 'Supergirl' to her face all the time do you? Well Power Girl anyway…" Winn pointed out.

"No, but that's because Power Girl is her superhero persona, not her everyday name," Cisco stated.

"Same difference," Winn stated, rubbing his eyes now. "J'onn may be his birth name, but Hank is his human identity. It's a reverse-effect. He's known as J'onn though to all the DEO staff but Hank is just… well, it's easier. He's been in his Hank-skin for something like ten years before now, he was used to it and used to the name. Why change what isn't broken?"

"I getcha," Cisco nodded, tying up something new on the database now as Winn stood up. "I'll give Alex a buzz. She's with the two Kara's and Barry so can let them know we'll be a little… late." Winn was about to move off when he paused. "Coffee?"

"Sure," Cisco grinned. "Can do with some caffeine to keep the old noggin' active."

-PowerFlash-

"Pizza!" Kara Danvers walked into the door of her apartment. Barry and Kara Wells were on the couch, giggling to one another while Alex sat in a lone chain smirking at the pair.

"Oh, I'm starving!" Kara Wells was by her double's side and had claimed a box before Danvers could even react – back on the couch and sharing slices with Barry in seconds.

Kara Danvers watched for a moment as her eyes fell on Alex, who was now smirking at her sister. "Aren't you two quite the lovebirds?" Danvers addressed the couple with a smile. Wells looked over to her and blushed. "You've adapted to my memories then?"

She took a spare one-seater at this, tucking her legs under herself as she passed a box of pizza to her sister as she looked to the couple again expectantly.

"Yeah, no real trouble. I can't believe Cadmus have gone this far though – from my recollection of your memories they were a secret government organisation, not this… whatever it is," Wells waved a hand dismissively in indication.

"Yeah, that came as a surprise for us too," Alex stated, biting into a slice herself now.

"Have you found Jeremiah yet?" Barry now asked, remembering what his Kara had told him the previous night.

"No," Alex sighed looking down. "There's some woman in change and she hinted –"

"He's alive Alex," her sister cut in firmly.

"But as what? He could be a new Metallo or some sort of abominable snowman!" She addressed her sister. "They like experimenting on people, turning them into something monstrous."

"He'll be fine. You have to believe it," Kara Danvers stated a little smoothly, both Barry and Kara Wells watching the conversation silently now, wondering what might have been revealed of Jeremiah since. Silence returned these curiosities as the sound of eating took over for a moment.

"So… erm, anyone special in your life?" Kara Wells now asked, wanting to change the topic as she addressed her double, "and what's with that chair thing? I thought you had an office? I remember Cat giving me – that is to say you – one when she fake-fired you."

"Office was more symbolic," Kara Danvers sighed. "A means of telling me I was going up in the world. Although I'm hardly moving up when I became a journalist. More… sideways."

"Yeah, what's this nonsense about being a journalist? Last time I came here –" Kara Wells brought up the topic again; something that had been niggling at her for a while now.

"It's Winn," this was Alex. Her phone had gone off as she looked at the text that she'd got; everyone glancing to her now. "The DNAngel algorithms is a no-go. They're working on something to do with a 'speed-force' thing…?"

"They're tracking Jay," Barry realised. "Since they have him. As long as he's alive…"

"Oh, Malcolm will be pleased," Kara Danvers cut in, grinning now.

"Are you and he…?" Kara Wells cut in, noticing the look on her double's face. She was wondering if this world would start repeating Karry Earth and their own now that Kara technically had a Barry around.

"Oh god no. He's too… well, he's a world apart from Barry here," Danvers stated shaking her head.

"Not the best words to choose, all things considering," Barry smirked at this.

"I mean… he's very different to you Barry. He needs to grow up a bit more before he's ready for anything serious," Danvers stated kindly. "He's just a friend. That's all."

"Well, he's been alive for as long as I have," Wells pointed out, "but he wasn't treated as fairly." Wells turned to Barry who held his hands up defensively at this, but said nothing. "Makes sense he'd need to let out some aggression."

"Yeah… Aggression," Alex muttered sarcastically to herself, Barry glancing to her curiously at this.

"I've got Mon though," Danvers sighed happily. "After the mess that was James I clicked with Mon and we've been happy so far."

"Mon… El? Cisco mentioned him. That confused me. I don't recall anyone called Mon from your memories," Wells stated.

"You wouldn't. I met him after you got my memories. Well, that's to say he woke up after you got my memories – crash-landed right here in National City a while ago in a Kryptonian pod. He's not Kryptonian though," she added this reassuringly to the look Kara Wells was giving her.

"Tell me everything," Kara Wells leaned forward in her chair, wanting to know more. It seemed like Kara Danvers might have found a relationship that works and was healthy for her, unlike the one Wells remembered her having with James. Even now she could recollect at least five times James said or did the wrong thing that just made him the worst kind of date, let alone boyfriend. She was kind of disappointed that Kara wasn't with Malcolm though, but she couldn't expect she and Barry to be together in every world. That would just be silly.

"Maybe later," Kara Danvers winked at her double. "It's getting late and we have a busy day tomorrow. Alex, did you make up the spare room?" She asked her sister now.

"Yeah, but it's only one bed, Kara…" Alex started.

"We'll be fine with that," Wells stated quickly.

"We will?" Barry asked, who hadn't got a word in edgewise recently, letting the girls talk.

"Sure," Wells smirked as Alex raised her eyebrows. Kara Wells was being rather playful it seemed.

"Well, you remember where it is, I'm sure," Danvers smirked as she stood now, collecting the now-empty pizza boxes and throwing them out in seconds. "I have some spare clothes and some of Mon's that should be your size, Barry, should you need them. Can't go around in those outfits all the time."

"Thanks," Barry muttered, standing now as he waited for his Kara to stand.

"What do you think of my outfit?" Wells hadn't stood yet as she looked directly at her double, wondering what this Kara would think.

"Not fond of the smaller El symbol, but white looks good on you – on me. I'd never change this though, but I like it. Suits you though, especially with the hair. Why the mask though?" She indicated the mask Kara Wells had long since left on the table.

"I don't wear glasses," Wells stated, relieved with the answer. The Kara on Karry and SuperEarth had disliked the outfit. It was good to know that at least one Kara Zor-El was good with it. "I need to be more… secretive in my superhero persona."

"Reverse effect," Kara Danvers nodded thoughtfully. "Fair enough."

Wells smiled at her double as she finally stood, nodding to Barry and moving off to the spare bedroom where clothes were already awaiting the pair of them. Neither had slept in the same bed before – even when she'd stayed over at Joe's Barry had let her on his bed and he took a camp bed but now… things were getting serious. And both were blushing as they got into their pyjamas.

"Did they tell you why they're here?" Alex now asked her sister, drawing Kara Danvers' eyes back to her and away from the pair in the bedroom.

"Hmm? Oh no. After Barry's two previous visits I just go with the flow," Kara shrugged as Alex laughed at this.

-PowerFlash-

Karas Wells and Danvers, as well as Barry and Alex were in the DEO early the next morning. Cisco and Winn seemed to by hyped over what they'd done and worked out and seemed eager to let the others in on the plan.

"Well then Mr. Schott and Ramone?" Hank asked expectedly, appearing as if out of nowhere yet again.

"We found him, Mr. J'onn – err, Mr. Henshaw!" Cisco announced excitedly; Hank glaring at him at the use of his Martian name.

"You found Jay?" Barry asked, moving up to his friend now. "Where is he?"

"Someplace remarkably obvious. An old DEO warehouse near the docks," Winn now pointed out.

"Why is it always old warehouses?" a new voice announced, Barry and Kara Wells looking around to see a familiar man in an unfamiliar outfit.

Malcolm Garrick looked, to all intents and purposes, like Barry. Except for the small beard, and the slightly longer hair. He was obviously going for a rugged look but looked in better health than Barry had ever seen him, at least since after the day of his creation. Garrick glared at Cisco though as he moved in front of Barry himself.

"Hey, Barry," he stated politely.

"Kid Flash," Barry winked, taking his double's hands as Garrick Jnr smirked at the name.

"Kid Flash…" he sighed, "a nickname gone to extreme measures. It what happens when you're training with your adopted Flash dad before he gets kidnapped by some mutated freaks."

"They're Cadmus projects," Hank pointed out simply.

"Mutated freaks, like I said," Malcolm retorted before forcing himself to look at Cisco. "Where is this warehouse?"

"Half a kilometre inland from the docks on the west side of the city, near Grant Street," Cisco began, but couldn't finish his sentence when Malcolm vanished in a gust of wind and a streak of lightning.

"Will Mr. Garrick always be so impulsive?" Hank muttered to himself.

"I think this is time we got out there," Kara Danvers smirked as she now flew off, leaving nothing but a pile of casual clothes on the floor. Barry and Kara Wells smirked at one another before leaving themselves, already in their superhero outfits.

They arrived at the warehouse mere moments later, following directions from Cisco in their ear to find Kara and Malcolm in an argument, although Barry had to pause a moment to take in 'Kid Flash's outfit. It was green and blue; the bodice and legs were green while the arms alone were blue, there was no headpiece like Barry's costume, or even Wally's back on Earth-1, but Malcolm did support a pair of goggles in a similar green outline to the main costume to attempt to tie the whole piece in together. There was no symbol, not even a lightning bolt like Jay's main outfit.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Power Girl asked, cutting the argument short – from what she and Barry could tell, Supergirl had be laying in to Kid Flash about his impulsiveness; Kid Flash simply not caring.

"Dad and I made it," Kid Flash retorted to Barry. "I didn't want to look like you," he glared at the Flash, "so this was the outcome. I like it, okay?"

"Right…" the Flash now replied, deciding not to go into it as Power Girl shook her head disapprovingly.

"Err, guys?" Kid Flash intoned, indicating behind the Flash and Power Girl; Supergirl pulling a defensive pose as Kara Wells and Barry turned to see three women behind them. All three were levitating slightly, but only one seemed to be on fire. In fact, the fiery one reminded Barry of a female Firestorm. She was the one who dived at him.

Power Girl found herself very quickly fighting against the speedster DNAngel – she seeming to have superhuman strength as well as speed – while Supergirl and Kid Flash took on the one with telekinetic abilities.

Barry was glad he knew about Firestorm, about his weaknesses and powers as this particular one seemed to be a match to him – not only throwing fire, but able to manipulate the heat around her, causing Barry to reach dangerous levels of exhaustion. His other super-powered friends were too distracted to help him, but Cisco was speaking in his ear, instructing him to put out her fire by any means possible. He ran, speeding around her, trying to cool down the immediate area but to no help, so changed tack, rotating his arms, trying to cool her down…

Power Girl wasn't doing much better herself; she found the speedster Angel was more than a match to her as she threw the superhero around like she was nothing more than a baby's toy.

"Cherub is part Kryptonian and I suspected Part-Jay Garrick," Cisco spoke in Kara Wells' ear as she recovered herself from a crater of the Angel's making.

"Cherub?" she asked, jumping forward and aiming a super-punch to the girl.

"I name things. It's what I do. The telekentic one is Seraph, Epiphany is the Firestorm-like Angel and Cherub is the speedster. Look, don't ask just fight!" Cisco told her in her ear, Power Girl shaking her head dismissively as she did as Vibe instructed.

"Any hints or cheats against this one?" Supergirl now asked into her earpiece as Kid Flash attempted, and failed, to take on the telekinetic Angel – he was being thrown around like a puppet.

"This is the first time I've seen them in action," Cisco now told her. "Winn's got suggestions, but no clue how to implement them. You guys need reinforcements."

"Superman. Call Superman," Supergirl told Cisco. "Please."

"On it now," Winn called, not being able to hide his glee at this instruction.

Then something happened. Seraph and Epiphany turned to one another, glanced at Cherub and then moved. It happened quicker than either Kid Flash or either Kryptonian women could follow as Barry was taken, all three woman grabbing him and moving away.

"Barry!" Power Girl screamed, unable to hide his identity as Epiphany turned and threw a massive ball of fire in their direction – Power Girl jumping out of the way but the fire claimed her double before Supergirl could react. Power Girl stared in horror as her double crumpled, turning to look back at Epiphany but she, along with the other two and Barry were gone.

"We need to get her back to the DEO!" Malcolm now stated worriedly as he crouched over the unconscious Kara Danvers.

"But your dad…" Kara indicated the warehouse.

"It was a trap, Kara," Winn now spoke in Kara's ear. "We traced Cherub, not Dad Flash."

"Dad Flash?" Malcolm chuckled as Kara bend down and picked up her double.

"Well, can't have two Flash's and Kid Flash," Winn now spoke up.

-PowerFlash-

"Allen?" the voice woke Barry up with a start as he looked around. He'd just been fighting that DNAngel and then… what? He stared groggily around himself properly to find out where he was.

"A cage?" He muttered shaking his head.

"Nice to see you again," Jay Garrick spoke as Barry's eyes focussed on him properly.

"Zoom's lair?" Barry asked, confused.

"No, but I can see where you got the idea. Welcome to one of Cadmus' outlets," Garrick sighed. "At least they spared us masks."

"Hang on, we're in Cadmus?" Barry tried to stand, his head meeting metal as he rubbed the sore spot he had just hit.

"Yep," Garrick sighed.

"How'd they get you?" Barry sat back down, using this time to concentrate.

"One of their previous projects took me when Malcolm and I were in National City. And I wouldn't bother vibrating to get out of this thing – Cadmus is one step ahead as I've tried that before and failed miserable," Garrick muttered.

"Damn," Barry swore, sighing as he looked to Garrick. "What now then?"

-PowerFlash-

A rush of wind once more in the DEO announced the arrival of Superman. He wasted no time to run to the medical bay to look over the now unconscious Kara Danvers.

"What happened? Who did this?" He asked, looking up at Alex who was by Kara's side, clearly angry and ready to break the heads of anyone who dared hurt his little cousin.

"DNAngels," Alex stated resolutely. "I'm not sure how, but the fiery one managed to knock her out, she's got second degree burns which the solar lamps are helping with…"

"It's the Kryptonian part of Epiphany," Kara Wells stood in the doorway, Clark hadn't seen her and jumped when she spoke up, looking around at this Kara in shock. "Whatever they've done to the bit of you this Metallo guy got, it's enhanced their powers that it's works well against us."

"Kara?" Clark looked from the unconscious Kara on the bed to the one in the doorway, clearly confused.

"In the flesh, well, kind of," Kara Wells smirked. "I'm from another universe. It's… sort of complicated. The point is I'm here to help and we need your help."

"Okay," Clark didn't question this as he glanced worriedly to Alex who just nodded her head, letting Clark know this was all right. Clark relaxed a bit knowing Alex trusted this other Kara already.

"Winn and Cisco have come up with a plan to stop these DNAngel freaks but we need your help," Kara Wells continued.

"Of course," Clark stated, not bothering to question who Cisco was as he moved around his Kara's bed to move near the one he was facing now. "What do I need to do?"

"We need to lure them out of hiding," came Winn's voice as he rushed over to the superhero. "Hey Clark."

"Are you blushing?" Kara Wells asked, but Winn waved him off.

"So, Cisco and I were thinking, what pisses Cadmus and their Angels off the most? Just you guys doing your own thing. Saving people, acting the hero, acting the gods as they put it. You need to go out and help, save people – things – anything! Then when the Angels turn up…"

-PowerFlash-

"I've just saved my third cat from a tree," Power Girl told Cisco in her ear as she circled the city, "and still no sign of these DNAngels. A lot of foolish cats though."

"You're not the only one," Kid Flash spoke up. "Although I did just stop a fire. Lucky I've learned a few tricks this fortnight thanks to you guys."

"Are you sure Kara's going to be alright?" This was Clark, he wasn't paying attention to what the others were saying, just going through the motions. Clearly he was worried about his cousin.

"She's healing already, Clark," came Alex's voice. "Just help take down these Angels and she'll be thankful."

"Speaking of which, I have one on my tail!" Kid Flash spoke. "Rendezvous point?"

"The others are sure to follow," Power Girl stated, turning in mid-air to go the other way. The DEO had purposefully emptied the park; an area that great damage wouldn't affect and without people about the death rate would be minimal, if non-existent. "I have Epiphany," Kara suddenly added as she saw out of the corner of her eye the flame-woman following.

She landed in the park, Epiphany landing a few feet off just as Kid Flash ran a lap around the park and came to a sudden stop, forcing Cherub to speed to a stop behind him, next to her sister. Clark landed a moment later, the third Angel coming in to focus a moment later. The three superheroes wasted no time though as they nodded to one another.

"Come on!" Kara shouted at Epiphany, who threw fire in her direction, the other Angels began to attack their respective superhero, but they knew what they were doing as Kara continued to provoke her particular Angel, just as Kid Flash grabbed Seraph and threw her in the line of Epiphany's fire. She was incinerated in seconds as the two remaining DNAngels paused, shocked.

"We work together! That's our mission!" Cherub shrieked at her sister. Her voice was high, screeching, inhumane. "We are weak without one of us!" She ran at her flaming sister, who seemed to panic as all control left her. Cherub made light work on her sister as clear insanity took control.

This wasn't part of the plan. They had just wanted to use the Angels powers against each other. Get them to disable themselves, not kill them and turn them against one another, but it was done as only one DNAngel stood over the body of her sister. Cherub breathing heavily as she suddenly collapsed, weakened at the lack of her sisters.

"I've got this," Clark stated simply to Kara and Malcolm, "go save the Flash's." Clark went over to Cherub and took great pleasure in knocking the remaining Angel out before picking her up and flying away.

They didn't waste time as they sped off; Kara taking to the air while Malcolm remained on the streets, heading back to the warehouse. Cisco had said it was a trap, but it was their first and only lead and neither geek in the DEO had any other good idea. Although another track on the speed-force would be helpful. It was a shame Cisco couldn't link Barry's vitals into the DEO systems like STAR Labs had long-since done. Would have been easy to track Barry then.

They were in luck though as they found the interior of the warehouse guarded, albeit not heavily as they easily took out the agents – Kara reminding Malcolm not to kill – before they came across a back room with two caged people.

"Come here often?" Kara asked as she knocked down the door to see Barry smirking up at her and Jay smiling pleasantly.

"Dad?" Malcolm came in behind Kara. "Oh thank god."

"Son," Jay tried to get up but failed due to the size of the cage. "I was starting to wonder…"

Kara moved over to Jay's cage first and tore the bars off before doing the same to Barry's, wasting no time in pulling him out an into a large hug at the same time.

"Did you stop those Angels?" Barry asked as he pulled out of the hug.

"Yes!" Kara grinned. "With help from Kid Flash and even Superman!"

"Clark's about?" Barry asked, intrigued to meet this cousin of Kara's he'd heard a lot of and met on his world. This Clark was more the cousin Kara knew though since this Earth's Kara was the one who's memories his Kara had.

"Oh yeah," Malcolm stated.

"Kid Flash?" Jay asked, looking to his son now. "When did you get that name?"

"Had it for some time, since you're the main Flash," Malcolm shrugged not really caring.

"I think we can do better than that," Jay stretched. "Home?"

"Detour first," Malcolm stated, "I'll show you the way." Another rush of air and a larger flash of light and both Malcolm and Jay were gone.

"Cisco's sorted out the Multiverse Enhancer and Caitlin's activated her end of the multiverse communications thing… it's a little beyond me though so we can go home soon if you want?" Kara muttered, wanting to see Barry safe and sound back home.

"No. I need to head back to Central City here. Jay's offered me dinner and well, I need to make things up for treating Malcolm badly. He's a good guy, really, I've just been…" Barry couldn't find the words, but Kara smiled her understanding. She knew Barry felt guilty for treating Malcolm how he had but also knew in one way it was Duplicate's fault too. No one knew Malcolm could become his own person. Not really.

"I think Cisco wants to adapt Kid Flash's outfit anyway so we can head home tomorrow – I honestly don't mind." Kara leaned in to kiss Barry.

"Thanks," Barry muttered as he pulled out of the kiss. "Jay thinks I should call Malcolm my brother. It might make things easier on him as he thinks he's got a reputation to live up to…"

"Technically he's your twin," Kara stated thoughtfully. "I'm this Kara's twin, or maybe SuperEarth's Kara's twin… speaking of which, you need to come back to the DEO first. Meet the family."

Meeting the Clark of this world was a lot easier than the Green Lantern on of their home world; he was kind, almost humble toward Barry. Even though Winn went a wonderful eggplant colour when in the same room as Superman – it seemed even regular contact with a childhood hero wouldn't alleviate his hero-worshipping.

Kara Danvers was already healing nicely, her burns were gone, her outfit was under repair and she seemed happy the DNAngels had been defeated, even if she wasn't the one to stop them. Another article was on the verge of being written though as Kara interviewed her double to within an inch of her losing her voice before turning on Malcolm, who was officially being renamed by Cisco.

"I don't know… I'm kind of fond of 'Kid Flash'," Malcolm stated to Cisco as he looked to his dad.

"I actually like this new one. It suits you, Mal," Jay smiled at his son.

"Yeah but… Impulse? It's not like that's very… speedster-y," Malcolm shrugged.

"But you are impulsive," Hank put in his two cents as he listened in.

It wasn't long before Barry took his leave with Jay and Malcolm; Kara was going to stay over at her double's again that night, after a night in watching movies and stuffing on junk food with Alex for a very special sister's night. Barry's time with Jay and Malcolm went well too; even if Jay was the dead-ringer for his own deceased father, there were things he did differently to Henry Allen, things that made Barry disassociate him from his father by the night's end. It was a good thing to remember for future world hopping – that even if you met the alternate forms of people you knew or even yourself they would probably be very different to the one you know.

Barry soon retired to the guest bedroom of Jay's three-bedroom Central City flat to reflect on his past year's decisions, wondering why he ever had doubts on his dad's double or even his own clone. He felt a fool dismissing the pair so quickly and easily, just because of who they looked like. Looks literally were only skin deep and Barry was really starting to appreciate the fact that Earth-3 was becoming a somewhat second home to him, even more so than the Karry Earth and especially more-so than SuperEarth. That place had felt odd even on the second visit.

-PowerFlash-

The next morning Barry sped to National City and the DEO alone, leaving Jay and Malcolm – although not before hugging them both – to greet two Kara's, Alex, Hank, Winn and even Clark, who had remained to see the other Kara off as well. Cisco was already ready with his Vibe goggles.

"We leaving immediately?" Barry asked Vibe as he put an arm around his Kara and smiled at the other.

"Communication is up and running. It's no Skype yet but we can speak to the DEO from STAR; I even spoke to Caitlin earlier and it was clear," Cisco stated with a grin. "I need to speak with Wells though to see how to make the system more modern. See what we can use and what the other Earth's can help implement."

"All this multiverse talk goes right over my head," Clark stated with a smirk.

"But at least I'll be able to keep up with you two," Kara Wells stated in reply to her parallel cousin.

"Well having more than one Kara in my life can't be a bad thing," Clark said, teasing Kara Wells as he messed up her hair. Kara Wells smiled at this, happy with this version of her cousin.

"It was great meeting you finally. Too bad on this Earth though you're not married with kids like on the others. I really want to meet the kids," Kara Wells said making Clark and Kara Danvers look at each other in confusion. "Sorry two other Earths we visited Clark and Lois had kids. As far as I could tell the Kal that visited Earth did not have a wife or kids in our universe." Kara explained, forgetting herself at this.

"Kal? Visiting Earth?' Kara Danvers asked and Kara Wells put a hand over her mouth. She had not meant to reveal that to the two. "But… that… Krypton is still… in your universe?" Kara Danvers tried to get out the sentence as Clark quickly grabbed his cousin's hand for support and Alex stiffened next to them. Kara Wells silently nodded as Kara Danvers tried to continue, "and Kal came to Earth… any idea what I was doing? No I don't want to know… no I do… no…"

"How about you make up your mind and then you can call me to ask?" Kara Wells said politely, knowing this was a big thing for Kara Danvers – whether to know what her life could have been or ignorantly remain in the dark and continue to imagine what could have been. Honestly if Kal hadn't revealed all before, even she would have been happy to remain ignorant.

"Sounds good," Kara Danvers smiled, a little weakened by this news though. "So will we have to expect visitors from other worlds?" This she addressed to Cisco, "because if Cadmus gets wind of that…"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll make sure not to overwhelm you guys until you're ready," Cisco responded, "but if you need our help in the future, especially with Cadmus then I'm sure we can hustle up some reinforcements. Not only from our world but there are a few more worlds we have contacts woth now."

"Thanks," Kara Danvers smiled, likely thinking that getting a couple of Supermans, Supergirls, and Flashes together to take down Cadmus could be helpful.

"I think we better go back sooner rather than later though," Kara Wells addressed Cisco now, "Cat's got the grand opening and no doubt she's got a lot of last minute things even Iris can't handle."

"Cat's got a grand opening?" Kara Danvers now asked, sounding a little despondent at this.

"Yeah, she's finally expanding her empire into Central City. Give her a few years and I see CatCo Media rebranding to include 'Worldwide'," Kara winked to her double, not realising what affect this was having on Supergirl now too. Kara Danvers wasn't going to reveal that Cat had taken an indefinite leave of absence; her lack of presence at CatCo wasn't going unnoticed too as James was definitely not up to the job of being the New Cat Grant. Not that anyone dared tell him this to his face. Some people were starting to hope he would do bad enough to get Cat Grant back to take the company over again.

"Okay then. I'll contact you when we get through," Cisco now told Winn, "and maybe I can coax your my-Earth droppleganger to have a chat with you."

"If you think he needs Winn advice/ Not that I'm sure what advice I could give myself though…" Winn pointed out as Cisco put his goggles on properly now.

"You may need to keep behind me…" Cisco now told the others as the familiar blue ripple expanded from his fingers. The others obeyed as, in seconds, a large portal swirled in front of them.

"It was nice seeing you all again!" Barry told Alex, Winn and Hank, "and even meeting you, Superman." Clark nodded at this.

"We can keep in contact now," Kara Wells added to her counterpart, "so expect some long calls." Kara Danvers smiled at this as Barry held his hand out to his Kara.

"I'm right behind you," Cisco stated, literally and figuratively behind them.

The pair ran, speeding through the portal and running immediately into the Cortex of their STAR Labs, instantly recognizable with Caitlin waiting for them, a smirk on her face.

The swirl of vortex air faded as Barry and Kara looked back to see Cisco. "Well, that was interesting!" he told Vibe.

"And you were there for all two predicted nights, for once," Caitlin stated, getting out of her chair. "Iris has been calling Kara, I think Cat's going insane… Kara?"

Kara wasn't looking at Caitlin, a look of thought of her face as Barry tapped her on the shoulder, "Earth to Power Girl… you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's just… on reflection Earth-3… did It seem different to you?" Kara asked.

"Urm, not really," Barry stated, confused.

"Not on a visible level," Kara continued, "just the little things – Kara's job for instance, the DEO's relocation –"

"Cadmus going public," Cisco added, catching on to what Kara meant. "Yeah, every time I've Vibed that Earth, Cadmus has been under wraps and the DEO was in that cave… I didn't realy think about it when there but yeah. It was small changes. Changes like what would happen if a TV show suddenly changed networks and budgets, but a whole actual Earth? It kind of felt…"

"Alien?" Kara now added, a small grin on her face as Cisco instantly caught on.

"Like an Alien Earth?" Cisco smirked now.

"Alien…? You've lost me," Barry stated, glancing to Caitlin who gave him a shrug.

"Don't you see it, Barry?" Kara now stated, "We've been naming the Earths. This Earth is 'Prime Earth', Earth-2 we've unofficially dubbed 'Wells Earth' thanks to dad, Earth-4 is 'SuperEarth' and Earth-5 is 'Karry Earth' or 'Karry Universe', which ever you prefer – it makes sense to call Earth 3 'Alien Earth'!"

"Alien Earth. Totally called it," Cisco now added.

"I thought you weren't fond of naming these Earths?" Caitlin now spoke up to Cisco.

"That was Martin – I'm cool with giving them names. Makes them more unique," Cisco smirked. "Besides I love naming."

"Okay…" Caitlin glanced bemusedly at Barry now. "Anyway, Kara… Iris and Cat? You're needed."

"Right," Kara stated, still slightly distracted as she moved off.

"I need to call Alien-Winn," Cisco now stated. "Hah, Alien-Winn… love it." He moved off to the computers now, leaving Caitlin and Barry to watch their friend with a mix of amazement and bewilderment. Not unusual when it came to Cisco though.

* * *

 _Next time…_

 _As Prime Barry and Kara Wells stepped out of the portal the pair looked around. Cisco had opened a portal for them as close to the Kara of this world as he could but hey were definitely not in a city. At least this didn't look like any city they'd been to. There was nothing around them but farmland. Barry whistled. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…" he quoted._

 _"We were never in Kansas," Kara Wells said in confusion. "And who's Toto? I'm Kara – are you alright?"_

 _"It's a… oh, never mind," Barry said sighing, making a mental note to ask Jesse to show Kara the Wizard of Oz immediately. "Where are we anyway?" The two moved towards a path to a dirt road where a sign proudly stated this was 'Kent's Farm'. "Kent's Farm?" Barry now asked._

 _"Kent…?" Kara Wells replied, intrigued. "Clark Kent! It's Kal's human name and he grew up on a farm in Kansas, which means we are in Kansas. Completely the opposite of what you said before…"_

 _"I was quoting The Wizard of Oz," Barry said, going back to the topic. "We're watching it when we get back." Kara Wells gave Barry a look but nodded her agreement._

 _"But what's my counterpart doing here?" Kara Wells asked, "Unless she's with Clark?" Barry shrugged at this, looking up the road._

 _"Only one way to find out," Barry said, and the pair began to move up the dirt path to the house beyond._

* * *

Post-chapter Note: Like I said above, the next chapter is up on Tuesday. But after that I cannot say. That thing called life is forcing me to go on another break to get the last three episodes written up and ready, so expect Episodes 19 – 21 to go up sometime next month. Sorry, but it can't be helped… Sigma out!


	18. The Farmgirl of Smallville

Note: I must reiterate from last episode that **this will be my** **last update for a while**. As real-life has taken priority, I haven't got any more backlog to fall on and it takes time for me to write more, so expect the last three episodes to be posted up later next month (November; as it's October now) with episode 19 on a Monday, episode 20 on a Friday as promised and episode 21 on the Monday after. More info below though.

Dedication: This _must_ go to my Beta for reasons I won't reveal until after this episode. So,  CharmedMilliE- Karry Master, I simply say thank you.

Episode Eighteen – The Farmgirl of Smallville.

Kara hadn't slept. She didn't need to sleep that often, per se, but it would have been nice to have the option. Even though she knew that Sunday night was going to be stressful, she had that niggle of hope that things would be smooth, that she could sleep peacefully for a few hours… but this was Cat Grant, and there were a million and one other things that needed to be done before the sunrise on Monday, and the press conference at 9am that morning.

Which is why she now stood, just off centre, behind her boss on a podium outside the CatCo building. It had been record timing to finish the ground floor refurbishment in the two and half days given, but it had been done, and right now the new sign above the grand entrance, which she knew read 'CatCo Media – Central City' was hidden, and still drying, under a sheet until Cat's reveal. Kara had helped write her speech, mouthing along to the words as Cat spoke them aloud, seeing if her boss deviated from the script at all. She remembered Cat of Alien Earth did that a lot; making up her own words and throwing the script in the trash before an interview was even over. That Cat had more years of experience than this one though and knew how to go off script and still make it look good.

"Welcome all," Cat had started to the gathered crowd, as her script said also, "to the unveiling of the next best means of news and entertainment. As you all know, CatCo had been a staple of National City for past nearly-twenty years, starting as a small newspaper publication but surviving, bringing breaking news and even the latest celebrity gossip to the mass. Now marks the beginning of my publication's global expansion. Thanks to the likes of The Flash and Power Girl – the latter copyrighted to myself," Kara waited for the chuckle of laughter, trying not to roll her eyes as Cat continued, "I was able to turn Central City Picture News, a subsidiary publication from my company, into something big, something… special."

It was at this moment that the veil over the new name was lifted, and instantly flashes of light announced the arrival of hundreds of other media outlets, trying to grab their share of their latest rival's domain. "Central City Picture News, and even the latter CatCo Picture News is gone," Cat announced dramatically, "and, in its place is simply just Catco Media, the second outpost of my corporation and definitely not the last. Welcome all, to the future."

And that was it. Interviews would have to be given, but Cat was smarter than this as she turned on her heel to move off the podium, indicating Kara to move off with her as security escorted them back into the building, cries of her name meeting her, wanting to know more until the elevator doors closed behind her and the security. Kara glanced to her boss who had a wicked grin on her face now. "Always leave them wanting more, Karen," Cat stated simply as the elevator moved upward. "Any interviews needed with me will be non-existent. I shall of course make the official announcement of exactly what my company will be doing when we get back to the office, but until then… how do you think it went?"

"Sorry?" Kara asked as Cat pushed the emergency stop button, the elevator slowing to a halt.

"I've done plenty of announcements within the comforts of my office back at National City, along with several television appearances, but I've never… you know, done a public announcement like that," Cat stated, surprising Kara who was so used to the confident Cat of Alien Earth that she kept on forgetting this Cat wasn't the same – really, it was the little things.

"Oh, err, you kept to the script well, Ms. Grant. Kept the other media on their toes, the cries for your name – for, erm, more information – was loud and needy as we came back into the building. I would imagine security would be having a hard time keeping the press out…" Kara stated, a little thoughtfully.

"Hmm, good. I did spot Lois Lane of The Daily Planet in the crowds…" Cat now stated thoughtfully herself.

"Lois Lane?" Kara asked, a little too abruptly, wondering why the existence of her parallel cousin's girlfriend, and sometimes wife, was such a shocker to her. The only person missing on this Earth was Superman, after all.

"Yes. We were colleagues when I worked at the Planet. Several years my younger though, but even so, we were friends until… well, I won't bore you with the details. The point is, if Perry White sent one his best reporters all the way out here to get a scoop of my expansion, he must see me as a threat. Good." Cat was smirking now, lost in a world of her own as she pressed the resume button on the elevator.

Neither boss, nor assistant, spoke until the elevator doors opened and applause was met. Iris had been bugging her colleagues to do this on Kara bequest and it seemed most of them had obligated to do so as Cat's wicked grin turned to a genuine smile as she nodded her head to her employees, moving toward her office as Kelly Brooks, the office betting pool liaison amongst other roles, joined them – another parallel version of an old employee, relocated from National City to Central City and very much alive here; the memory of her Alien Earth's counterpart's death still haunted Kara – a tablet in Kelly's hand as she briefed her boss.

"We have cameras set up for you, Ms. Grant. The broadcast will go out across all CatCo-owned media outlets, as well as YouTube and on local media stations. It will go on repeat for about an hour as requested. Oh, and Iris received a call from a Mr. White a moment ago on Kara's line – he sounded angry and wanted to know what was going on…?" Kelly informed her boss, who turned to grin wickedly at both Kelly and Kara now.

"Excellent, Terri," Cat stated, again using the wrong name for an employee who didn't argue to a difference. "Karen, once I've done this little interview, get the Daily Planet on the line… I can't wait to speak to my old boss once more."

"Iris is giving it a year until The Daily Planet reaches some sort of first-come-first-served deal with us," Kelly told Kara under her breath as they both moved into Cat's office, their boss distracted with her new speech; Kelly ever the betting person.

"Put me down for six months," Kara replied with a smirk at her colleague.

-PowerFlash-

Monday had been exhausting, even for Kara, and Tuesday was no different. Wednesday, however, had proved better though. Iris had guilted Kelly into covering Kara after 5pm as Cat had had Kara in the office until at least 8pm each night and Kara had felt too happy for it to even thank Kelly as she had a date already planned with Barry – who she'd barely seen since their weekend adventure to the Alien Earth, and nothing was going to get in her way of this.

True, the date was just a TV movie at hers with Harry and Jesse out, but even so she was glad to be in his company again, as she had missed him greatly, even when she had been worked off her heels by Cat.

In fact, she almost flung herself at the speedster as she opened the door to him that evening, in an adorable jumper, but resisted as she knew her built-up energy would potentially break him. He was grinning though as he produced a bunch of white lilies from behind his back. "White flowers for a bright lady," he stated politely as he leaned in to kiss his girlfriend, who was more than happy to reciprocate as she took the flowers from him mid-kiss.

Pulling out and letting him into the apartment, she squealed as she grabbed a vase from the kitchen to put the lilies in. They were her favourite after all.

Barry watched in bemusement as Kara ran about the apartment with speeds matching his; he saw Powie in her basket lazily looking to her mistress's enthusiasm, both obviously loving every moment as she settled on the couch, patting the cushion next to her as he took his place, a smirk on his face.

"You _are_ excitable tonight," Barry commented, as she switched on the TV.

"I'm just glad to have the night off. And to have you here," she grinned at Barry as she leaned over to kiss him again, he not holding back as he leaned into her to return this kiss this time.

They didn't stop. Barry leaned deeper into Kara as she moved backward, he on top of her as their hands began exploring one another. Kara chuckled into the kiss as she moved his hands downward and rolled over, both falling off the couch as they landed on the floor, Kara now on top as she pressed into Barry, both moaning with pleasure as Barry's hands found her posterior, she moved a one of the hands upward quickly, to position into her lower back, when she heard a crack.

Barry cried out as she jumped up, shocked and worried as he winced in pain, suddenly curled into a foetal position as he held the wrist she had only just been moving a moment ago. It was bent at an odd angle.

"Oh my god," Kara cried out, shocked as Barry looked up at her. At this call, Powie came to her mistress's side, assessing the situation herself as she pawed at Kara, but Kara ignored her dog.

"It's fine!" Barry called out quickly, seeing the worry and panic in Kara's face.

"I was just… I forgot to control myself. Oh, this is bad!" Kara panicked, her mind racing as the door suddenly burst open and she was gone. Powie barked at Kara's sudden disappearance, Barry blinked in confusion, through the pain, as another rush of air announced the re-arrival of Kara. And she wasn't alone. A rather flustered-looking Caitlin was by her side as the doctor looked about in confusion.

"What…? Kara? Barry?!" Caitlin ran over to Barry side to look at his wrist, noticing it was positioned awkwardly. "What happened?" She looked up from the foot of the couch to see Kara with tears in her eyes, Powie trotting up to Kara's side as she licked Kara's hand, obviously trying to calm her mistress down.

"We were just… and then I forgot… and it… I'm sorry," Kara cried as Caitlin realised the real patient in need as she moved to Kara's side, grabbing her by both shoulders. Powie moved out of the way, with eyes still only for Kara.

"Kara… you have powers even you don't know the limits to, accidents will happen. Barry will heal," she glanced over to Barry who nodded at the pair, gritting his teeth through the pain and trying to look at ease with what had just happened.

"Breathe…" Caitlin told her friend, indicating the dining table and moving Kara to it to sit in. Powie moved too, taking position by Kara's side and remaining there. "Panicking will make you feel much worse… breathe Kara, let me attend to Barry and then…"

"Then?!" Kara sounded hysterical.

"Then we'll talk, girl-to-girl," she smiled awkwardly at this, but Kara just nodded as Caitlin moved back over to Barry.

"Well, your wrist is broken, that's clear. I need to set it, make sure it heals fine before your powers kick in and heal it wrong. Hang on," she looked back up at Kara. "Kara?" she asked as kindly as she could, "please can you go to STAR, grab my special med kit – it's a green box in the med bay – and bring it back here. I have some stuff in it which will help." Kara nodded silently as she ran out of the door.

Caitlin looked back to Barry. "Did she…?" she asked now as Barry nodded. "While you were…?" Barry nodded again, his flushed face gaining some color as Caitlin smiled. "Good for you guys. Well, not good that you… but still." Before Barry could reply, an indignant eyebrow raised, Kara had returned, placing the green box on the couch before retreating to the dining chair again to look on in worry and fear.

It didn't take Caitlin long to re-set the wrist, Barry having to bite on to a pencil so as not to cry out at one point before his wrist was properly set and Caitlin was tidying up. "You were already starting to heal," Caitlin now stated, "so that was why I had to rebreak it, but you'll be setting properly now. Given your rate of recovery," she glanced to Kara now to reassure her more than Barry, "you'll be good to go again in an hour or so, but I'd keep the splint on for a little bit longer, just to remain on the safe side. If we were back in the labs I'd be able to give you a proper timeline, but best to stick to about two hours before you take this all off. You'll be fine though."

She stood as Barry moved up to sit on the couch, recovering as Caitlin positioned a seat opposite Kara, who was now staring into space, a look of fear still haunting her face as Doctor Snow leaned forward to grab one of her friend's hands, bringing her back to the here-and-now.

"Hey," Caitlin said softly.

"Yeah?" Kara muttered. Her dog lifted her head from Kara's lap – Kara had been absently stroking her pet's scalp for the comfort.

"Barry's been through a hell of a lot worse. Did he ever tell you about the time Zoom broke his back?"

"Once, it sounded… I didn't want to think about it, really. But that was when he was The Flash, not simple, adorable Barry Allen. It was my strength, I don't… I need to remember to control," Kara muttered.

"What you need," Caitlin had been thinking about this for a while; ever since her and Jesse's

'sport talk' some months ago, "is advice. Not just girl-to-girl, because we can't tell you everything you need to know, but superhero-to-superhero…"

"Talk to another Kara? But that would mean getting Cisco involved!" Despite this, her eyes lit up, almost in relief.

"You don't need to rush into it though, maybe have a chat with Alex first – she knows the most about your powers in this world, see if she knows any… tips. You know, to deal with the control, anything she held back on telling you when you were still only very young," Kara had been with Alex for a month training and learning with ARGUS after her creation, it was true. "But it is true that another Kara is the only who can give you every piece of advice you need," Caitlin confirmed.

Kara smiled, nodding, her mind thinking over the Karas she knew already and wondering which one to ask. Powie yapped at seeing her mistress happier.

"Don't go running off to other worlds just yet, though – well, not until this weekend anyway," Caitlin continued, "and try not to lose yourself when making out. I know it can be hard sometimes." She smirked at her friend, who grinned properly now. "Er, could you take me back to Ray though? We were kind of…"

"Oh yeah, the restaurant!" Kara remembered, having snatched Caitlin mid-meal from her millionaire boyfriend and knowing Ray would likely be curious as to where Power Girl had taken his girlfriend.

"Thanks," Caitlin winked to her friend, looking back to Barry. "See you Friday, Bar!" she called as he gave her a mock salute with his good hand.

-PowerFlash-

Friday came around quickly after this. Kara had remained delicate around Barry for the rest of the Wednesday night but they had parted on good terms – Kara had thrown herself into work for the rest of the week though, concentrating on Cat Grant and CatCo to take her mind off Barry. She had popped into STAR whenever she could to find and talk to Alex, but she had remained aloof; either in the field or with a certain Miss. Lance. They were going solid, despite Kara not checking in with her mentor for a while to see how her personal life was going.

That would have to wait it seemed. Now she was Power Girl, a role she seemed to only be during the weekends at the moment, considering Quick and Silver were taking care of Central City's current, and minimal, criminals with ease. She had caught up with Jesse on what was going on in the streets of their city, but it seemed metas, however evil or not, were keeping quiet. It was disappointing really, as she liked playing her hero as Power Girl, even with her day job, but as Jesse told her the previous night: "You never know what lurks around the corner…"

"You're not coming?" This was Barry now as he looked to Cisco, who looked a little down at this.

"I can't. I can barely see this world, let alone give an accurate reading on where to place you guys. It'll be chance enough if I don't drop you off in the Artic if I'm not careful. Plus, we don't know these people… How you would feel like if strangers burst into your house and told you to set up a direct phoneline with them? No, we set up the Enhancers first, then go back later to sort out the Communicators," He was determined about this.

"Okay," Barry sighed. "I just got used to the idea of you coming too, Vibe, since last week and Winn…" his hand had long-since healed, the bandages going in the trash before he even left the Wells' apartment, but Kara's eyes lingered on the recently broken wrist as The Flash spoke.

Cisco shrugged at this. "You'll just have to settle with Power Girl, Barry," he chuckled.

"Suppose I will," Barry mock-pouted as he lolled his head in Kara's direction and smirked. He'd already forgiven her for their little accident, even if she hadn't forgiven herself. It seemed no-one had told anyone else outside the threesome of herself, Barry and Caitlin of the accident too, because no-one had brought it up since the day. "So you know nothing of this world?"

"I know one thing and one thing only," Cisco said holding up one finger. "Kara exists there. So she's our best shot. Going to send you to her or at least as close as I can get."

"Shall we do this then? I'm curious to see what my next life is like," Kara tried to joke as Cisco raised an eyebrow.

"Okay then…" he put on his goggles as Barry and Kara instinctively moved behind him, not questioning Kara's attitude as he opened a new portal. This one took some difficulty, both superheroes noted, as it took longer to open. But Cisco couldn't see this world, so it figured he would have more trouble opening it. "As close to Kara of that world as I can manage," Cisco called above the roar of the portal. "Go now, before it closes – I can't maintain it!"

Neither wasted time as they moved across the threshold, both holding on to one another as usual as they took one last look at the lab before landing in the unknown.

Cisco had opened a portal for them as close to the Kara of this new world as he could, but they were no longer in a city. That was for sure. At least this didn't look like any city they'd been to before. There was nothing around them but farmland.

Barry whistled. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…" he quoted with a goofy smile. He always wanted to say that in this type of situation.

"We were never in Kansas," Kara turned to him in confusion. "And who's Toto? I'm Kara – are you alright?" she glanced to his hand, wondering if the wound had affected him more than he let on.

"It's a… oh, never mind," Barry said sighing as Kara didn't understand the joke, making a mental note to ask Jesse to show Kara 'The Wizard of Oz' immediately. "I'm fine, honestly Kara. Where are we anyway?" The two moved towards a path of a dirt road where a sign proudly stated this was 'Kent's Farm'.

"Kent's Farm?" Barry now asked.

"Kent…?" Kara replied, intrigued. "Clark Kent! It's Kal's human name – he grew up on a farm in Kansas, which means we _are_ in Kansas. Completely the opposite of what you said before…"

"I was quoting The Wizard of Oz," Barry said, going back to the topic. "We're watching it when we get back." Kara gave Barry a look but nodded her agreement.

"What's my counterpart doing here anyway?" Kara asked. "Unless she's with Clark?" Barry shrugged at this, looking up the road.

"Only one way to find out," Barry said, and the pair began to move up the dirt path toward the house beyond.

Standing over a pigsty, dropping food in for the hungry animals was a familiar-looking woman, even from the back. She was wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and cowboy boots and a hat covering her longer-than-his-Kara's blond hair, which Barry had to smirk at. He had to get his Kara to dress up like that eventually. It looked cute from behind. "Kara?" he asked tentatively.

"Stalker," the new Kara said, causing Kara and Barry to look at each other. "Did you two finally finish fixing the fence?" The Kara of this world asked, finally turning around and pausing as the smirk faltered from her face as she looked at the two superheroes. "Stalker…? Who is this? Why does she look like me? And why the hell is she wearing that awful outfit Cisco tried to get me to wear originally?!" This Kara was clearly being careful of the two, instantly keeping a distance as she talked – even if she still believed Barry to be hers, which she weirdly dubbed 'Stalker'.

Before either could answer, two different people appeared before the cowgirl Kara; one was very recognizable as Barry, himself – he was wearing a button-up shirt, jeans, and a pair of cowboy boots and hat of his own. The second was a teenager with dark black hair and blue eyes, who seemed oddly familiar.

"Kal," The Kara of this world said to the boy instantly. "Don't move."

"What's going on?" Kal asked, doing as his cousin directed and stepping back as this world's Barry and Kara got between Kal and the two newcomers.

"Kal?" Kara Wells said in shock, amazed as she saw the familiar look of her cousin in the boy, but a lot younger than he should be. Or at least a lot younger than she knew him to be. This was the first time she had seen a teenage version of Kal-El beyond those of her memories from Kara Danvers, even if those memories were just dreams as that Kara had been under the Black Mercy at the time.

"Who are you?" The Barry of this world now asked.

"We're you," Prime Barry said, quickly taking off his mask and Kara did the same. The first step in gaining trust – they had had to do the same on the Karry Earth, Kara Wells remembered. At least this time they didn't end up in the couple's bedroom. "From a different Earth. You see there's a multiverse…"

"Different Earths in the same space vibrating at different frequencies from each other. Yes, we know," The Kara and Barry of his world said together, clearly knowing this explanation already.

"Well, that was easy," Kara Wells said, more to herself and glad they didn't have to explain the multiverse as she continued to stare at Kal. He was so adorable as a child.

"The better question is, what are you doing here?" This world's Barry asked. Kal looked both uncomfortable and intrigued to be in Kara Wells' gaze, but his Kara moved in between her line of sight of her young parallel cousin before he could determine which look to settle on.

"It's a long story," Prime Barry said and pointed at the house. "Look. Can we go in? Explain inside?" The pair hesitated as this-Earth's Barry looked to his Kara, who nodded and lead the group inside, keeping hold of her curious cousin's arm though.

The house was a normal house, as far as normal could be explained – it was nothing overly special. Not a superhero hiding place, at least. The Kara of his world paused though in the entrance hall and leaned against the doorway leading to the living room. Her Barry perched on the couch beyond and Kal stayed near his Kara, but looked at the visitors clearly excited. "You have five minutes," Kara said, folding her arms.

"It might take longer…" Prime Barry stated quickly.

"I've been through this before," This world's Barry cut off Prime Barry. "Just… start talking. You might surprise yourself."

"Okay then," Prime Barry gave his double a curious look as he wondered where to start and decided as close to the beginning as possible was best "Well, you see on my Earth several months ago there was this evil speedster from another Earth–"

"Zoom?" this Earth's Barry said suddenly. "We had one from a different Earth as well."

"Oh," Prime Barry didn't know where to go now, but realized it would probably be an easier explanation than he previously thought. "Well then, I don't know what your Zoom accomplished, but mine tried to destroy the multiverse itself, well apart from my Earth and although I did manage to stop him… it wasn't soon enough. There was collateral damage and part of the multiverse… well, it's been damaged, killed off actually."

"And this world?" the cowgirl Kara asked, failing to hide her curiosity.

"Well, it lived obviously but… it's kind of…" Barry didn't quite know how to explain this. Cisco did it better.

"It's teetering on the edge of the cataclysm, alive but… distant," Kara Wells contributed, the cowgirl Kara raising an eyebrow at this. "Or at least that's what we get from our Cisco…"

"I guess that explains what happened to Earth-2," the Barry of this world sighed, causing his double to glance curiously at him.

"Would you care to explain?" Kara Wells asked, knowing that was what her Barry was looking for.

"Our Cisco was vibing Zoom on Earth-2, every now and then, to see when his Velocity would kill him as Caitlin had predicted; Zoom was almost dead but then, one day, Earth-2 just disappeared. Cisco couldn't see it. It was gone. I guess that was because of your Zoom." Kara couldn't tell if there was an accusatory tone to his voice for this or not.

"That's all very well and good, but this doesn't explain what you're doing here," The Kara of this world said, pointing at Primes Barry and Kara at this.

"Okay, Kara…" Prime Barry paused. "What's your last name? We usually go by the different last names for Karas as there's a noticeable difference there." He smirked to his Kara at this. The other Karas had all been Danvers at one point, with of course one now being Allen but his Kara was the only Wells.

"It's Kent," Kara sighed, putting a protective arm around Kal as she did.

"That should have been obvious," Kara Wells said with a smile. "I mean we are on Kent Farm, Barry. I'm Wells. Kara Wells."

"Like that Jesse girl who always calls you Farmgirl!" Kal made the connection instantly, a smile on his face as he obvious found the whole thing exciting. He was barely a teenager after all – he mustn't have reached the grumpy-teenager stage yet.

"Yeah Kal, she's my sister on our Earth," Kara Wells said politely, smiling at Kal. "Farmgirl, though?" she laughed at this, unable to help herself. "Oh, that does sound like Jesse." As she spoke though, she wondered what Kara Kent and Jessica Wells' relationship was like here. They weren't sisters here, that was obvious, but were they friends? She needed to find out.

"Your five minutes was up five minutes ago," Kara Kent drolly pointed out, indicating a clock on the wall. "So get to the point or I'm throwing you out." Kent didn't reflect any other Kara's attitude they had met so far, in fact she kind of reminded Kara Wells of the memories of her mother. Was that a good thing?

Prime Barry sighed, glancing to Kara Wells at this as he redirected his next breath at her double. "Our Cisco wants to see what the damage is. To do that we have been going to different Earths and activating these devices." Prime Barry pointed to Kara Wells, who took the Multiverse Enhancer device from her belt pocket and held it out to Kara Kent, who took it, looking it over intently. Kara Wells could see she was using her X-Ray vision on it – she recognized the intent gaze. "This is the last Earth we need it activated it on." Barry finished.

"But why?" Kara Kent asked, looking up to Barry. "You can't reverse what happened. Why bother doing this?"

"Like I said, Cisco wants to see how much damaged was done. He and our Professor Stein want to map the multiverse. Call it scientific curiosity," Prime Barry said with a half-shrug.

"Seems kind of pointless to me," this world's Barry said with a shrug himself, making Prime Barry give his counterpart a glare. He was starting to get annoyed with himself; he seemed different, despite the obviously similar history. At least with Zoom anyway. "And we're not just activating a strange device." He continued. "You may be us, but we don't know you."

"We get it," Kara Wells said, raising her hands, not having noticed the differences with this Barry yet. "We can wait while you get your Cisco to look at it. We can't return home though until it's activated anyway so… Can we stay the night?"

Kara Kent and the other Barry seemed to stiffen at this as they looked at each other. "I guess I can run out to Central and pick up Cisco tomorrow." The other Barry said to Kara Kent.

"And I guess you can spend the night," Kara Kent said, but there was a smirk on her face as she said this. "But if you stay in my house you have to work on my farm."

Kara Wells and Prime Barry looked at each other, a moment of confusion passing between the pair before they both surrendered. "Sounds fair," Kara Wells said, not knowing what farm work was, really, and wondering if it could be translated in to a kind of trust-game. In fairness, though, they were freeloading off both of their doubles by this request and, trust-game or not, it was fair play. The other Earths had trusted them by other means; after all, every other Earth had previous encounters with theirs and this was the only completely new one to them. Asking them to do a little work here in exchange for what they were asking was an acceptable bargain.

"Can I help get their room ready?' Kal asked suddenly. Even though he had been silent throughout the explanation, Kara Wells could see the excitement on his face – a large smile, to be precise.

"Sure," Kara Kent said with a small smile on her face now, and Kal ran up the stairs. "Hey Stalker," The Barry of this world turned around, causing Kara Wells and Prime Barry to give looks and mouth the word 'stalker?' to each other. That wasn't the first-time Kara Kent had used the name for her Barry and they'd almost forgotten about it until now. "Did you two finish fixing the fence?"

"No," this Barry said, shaking his head. "Kal and I needed to grab more nails."

"Well then, can you get it done before the sun goes down," Kara Kent said rolling her eyes but still smiling; obviously the use of having Kal earned easy forgiveness.

"My help is gone," Kent's Barry said, pointing up the stairs where Kal had disappeared.

"Are you The Flash or not?" Kara Kent now stated, annoyance in her voice suddenly.

"I'll help," Prime Barry quickly interrupted, holding his hand up. He wanted a private word with his counterpart anyway. There was something he didn't understand. Well, a lot of things he didn't understand, but one thing was bugging him out of them all.

"Fine," Kent's Barry said, heading for a door and Prime Barry followed quickly.

Kara Kent rolled her eyes and went to move toward stairs. Kara Wells went to follow her, wanting to get to know her little cousin and find out what had happened differently in this world. So far, it was the first one where it seemed Kara had gotten to do her job of protecting Kal once they left Krypton and it was making Kara Wells very happy to see a world where things went as they should have done.

-PowerFlash-

After grabbing a box of nails, the two Barry's ran to the edge of the property where part of a fence was broken – the bit they were meant to repair, obviously. "You own a lot of land out here," Prime Barry said tentatively, looking around. The house was barely in sight.

"Kara does," Kent's Barry said. "I just live and work here." He held up a thin plank of wood. "Can you hold this while I nail it in?" Prime Barry held the wood as his double went to grab a hammer and nails.

"About that…" Prime Barry started on the topic he wanted to address with his counterpart. "How could you have abandoned your duty?" He tried not to sound angry at this.

"Err, Kal and I needed more nails," Kent's Barry said, clearly not understanding what Prime Barry actually meant. "I can't fix a fence without nails." Prime Barry rolled his eyes. "You know it's kind of funny how this broke. Been trying to help train Kal with his powers now that they…" Kent's Barry began.

"That's not what I meant," Prime Barry cut him off. "I mean, how could you abandon Central City to meta-human hell and live here in Kansas? What about the others?" He didn't want to question if his dad was alive here or not, but this at least covered his foster family and those at STAR Labs.

"I didn't abandon Central. It's fine," Kent's Barry said in confusion, continuing to nail together the wood, however. "And if a Dark Matter Mutant starts acting up, The Flash and Lady Power run over and take care of it." Prime Barry paused for a second, his mind going over the words 'Dark Matter Mutant' and 'Lady Power'. He must be talking about meta-humans and Kara. Those were different designations for them; although Lady Power was more close to his Kara's superhero name than 'Supergirl', at least. "Please don't move, you'll make this job harder."

"But you're not there. Kansas isn't exactly next door to Central City. What about everyday crimes? Central's surely gotten used to The Flash saving the day even from petty criminals." Prime Barry asked, not letting this go. "You left them to fend for themselves!"

"The police force in Central is one of the best in the United States these days. They can handle the small crimes. It's kind of their job anyway. Besides there are other places that need The Flash to take out mutants," Kent's Barry stated. "And they don't need me to be a CSI, before you bring that up. They have that Julian Albert weirdo there, who's kind of a jerk, but his good at his job. And I kind of hated the job anyway. I prefer the farm. The simple life…" Prime Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not only about letting the police take care of crimes but preferring living on a farm over being The Flash properly. He could never picture leaving the city, not even for Kara. "You can let go. I'm done with this one."

Prime Barry let go of the wood as his double check it over. "There are other jobs you could have done in Central though," Prime Barry said. "Like re-opening STAR Labs." His double paused, looking around to Prime Barry, a clearly horrified look on his face at this suggestion.

"Re-open STAR?" The words came out of his mouth like they were the most disgusting things he had ever spoken. "Why would I want to do that?!"

Prime Barry didn't know how to response to his double's complete lack of interest in the Labs. True, he hadn't thought of it initially, but upon seeing what Karry Earth had done, it was something he was still seriously considering. Getting out of the CSI life was appealing to him too, especially now the reason behind it had long-since been resolved. It seemed like while they had the moving-on from the job thing in common, both Prime Barry and his double were on completely different tracks on what to do next.

"Forget it," Prime Barry spat, completely disgusted with his counterpart. "We're clearly completely different people." He sighed as his double raised an eyebrow and Prime Barry sighed. "You left Central City for love, I suppose, and I couldn't do that. I just wouldn't leave my city unprotected." To Prime Barry it was obvious what had happened. This Barry had found Kara Kent, who would not leave her farm. He had even moved out here for her.

"You're wrong, Barry," his double voiced as Prime Barry was just about to walk away, causing Prime Barry to pause. "We're not so different. In fact, I think we were once the exact same person. From that little tale you told about Zoom, I bet I can guess everything that's happened to separate us since."

"Oh yeah?" Prime Barry turned, crossing his arms. "Go right ahead."

"Okay then," Kent's Barry stood himself, as he cautiously leaned on the fixed-fence. "Jay tricked you and you got angry," he started simply, "so you decided to go back to Earth-2, believing you couldn't leave that Earth to Zoom's mercy. It's something I would have once done. But really, I suppose you just couldn't get over the fact that he tricked and used you. You wanted back to get even. You didn't stop to think as you ventured on with your quest and you found a way to Earth-2. From what you said, it must be something linked to Cisco's powers, and because of this, you let Zoom back onto your Earth. Whatever plans you made to take him down failed and things got worse. I bet things got bad for you personally… I bet, no… someone you loved died?"

Kent's Barry was looking at Prime Barry as he said this, his face falling slightly. "I can tell from your face. I'm right. But who died? It's not Cisco since he sent you here. Caitlin?" Instantly Kent's Barry shook his head. "No, it was someone closer to you. Iris?" Prime Barry stood motionless, unable to believe his double was acting so callously. Had he lost his heart to Kara that much? "No not her… Joe? Ah, I'm close. Oh. Dad, Zoom killed dad."

"Shut up," Prime Barry said coldly, his hand balling into a fist.

"And I'm right," Kent's Barry said with a small jerk of his head. "I bet you went nuts, wanting revenge? Wanting to take Zoom down and this all ended up nearly destroying the multiverse and all of us. All of this." Kent's Barry now indicated the landscape around him. "Now I was probably following a similar path as you but when I found Kara she opened my eyes. She showed me there were more places in this world that needed The Flash than just Central. She made me slow down and realize Zoom was dying anyway. He was drugging himself on Velocity, his cells were dying. Once he died I could go and release the man he had captive and then Earth-2 would have been safe but you never slowed down enough to realize that, did you? So, tell me Flash, which one of us abandoned our duty? Me, who decided to protect more than just one city, or you who put your city in danger because you can't let go of your past?"

Prime Barry turned around, wanting away from this version of himself. What had gotten in to his double to make him act this way?

"Oh…" Prime stopped as his double started talking again "and my dad is still alive and adores Kara and Kal." Prime Barry, his anger barely contained now, turned around and went to punch his double, who easily ducked. "Very mature Flash." Kent's Barry called as Prime Barry moved away, wanting to get away from this compassionless version of himself. "Hey, we're not done fixing the fence!" His double tried as Prime Barry didn't stop.

-Powerflash-

Prime Barry stormed into the Kent house and found the two Karas and Kal talking and eating at the kitchen table. It seemed the two girls had gotten on better at bonding than he or his double had. "Is the fence finished?" Kara Kent asked instantly on his appearance.

"Send Kal to help him again," Prime Barry snapped, Kara Wells instantly able to tell he was angry at something.

Kal stood up with a smile. "Awesome!" He obviously liked this world's version of Barry as he ran out in a blur.

"How about we talk?" Kara Wells said quickly before her double could address Prime Barry's bluntness. As Barry stood in ridged anger, Kara Wells took his hand lead him up to the room they had set up, pushing him onto the bed while she remained standing. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"I hate that guy," Barry said, pointing to the window and making Kara raise an eyebrow.

"But… he's you," Kara Wells said. "So far they have been pretty nice. I mean Kara and Kal were and Kal is just co cute. Here they both got trapped in the Phantom Zone so it's the one world where Kara got to keep her promise. I wonder if there's a world where an older Kara didn't get trapped and raised Kal in the right time? I wish I could have raised Kal. Then again, I never got the chance." She paused for a moment before a smile came to her face. "Oh and get this! I asked Kara Kent how she and Barry met and apparently, this world's Barry accidently breached to another Earth where Barry and Kara were engaged. They called him 'Barry-White' and gave him pictures as he left. Sound familiar?"

"Yeah that's great," Prime Barry muttered, rolling his eyes as the explanation of the original Flash in Karry Universe was answered, but he couldn't process the information yet, his mind one-tracked. "But I hate it here. I want to leave. Can't your Kara just activate that stupid Enhancer so Cisco can take us back home?"

"She won't until her Cisco turns up tomorrow. And if we turn on the Enhancer to leave there's a chance they will destroy the device before Cisco can make contact – we could remain trapped here. We need it here, unharmed, for Cisco to see the full damage, remember? Besides, asking to have someone look it over is not a weird request at all. Every Earth but Alien Earth did it." Kara Wells said patiently, knowing Barry knew this anyway. "Tell me, please, what's wrong?"

"I hate him. I hate the life he's leading here. I hate his attitude!" Barry growled, sighing as he added more quietly, "And I hate the fact that he's right… This is all my fault. Every part of it. Every world that was destroyed. My dad. It's all because of me. It's because I wanted revenge against Zoom. I was upset he… If I had done nothing he would have died anyway. Even Caitlin knew that from her time with him."

"He told you that?" Kara asked, looking suddenly disturbed as she looked through the walls, glancing in the direction Kent's Barry and Kal were now fixing the fence on the edge of the property.

"Basically," Barry sighed. "He said I didn't slow down. That I didn't see the options and he's right… I never considered anything else but taking Zoom head on. If I had done nothing, none of this could be happening."

"You can't be sure of that." Kara took Barry's hand in hers. "Yes this world is different, but its Zoom could have been weaker. Our Zoom could have died on his own, but he may not have – he could have gone to another Earth, found a cure and destroyed everything! You can't live on what could have been. This Barry, he may be you, but you're not him. This isn't our world."

"I still could have slowed down." Barry said, smiling at Kara now. Her words were comforting. He hadn't thought of other possibilities since this world's Barry's taunt. "I could have asked Cisco to vibe him to see what was going on and act on information instead of diving head on. I need to think more. I need to let go of my past. And yeah, I shouldn't let these people get to me. I need to do what this Barry did. What this Kara helped him do because, like it or not, his dad and a lot of other people Zoom killed are alive because he chose not to go after Zoom. Because Kara showed him not to." Barry smiled at Kara. "At least I have you now."

Kara looked down herself now, wondering if she had made the right choice all those months ago when she went off with Alex. She had been a newborn then though. She didn't know anything; she didn't know her powers or what damage she could do. What they could still do… She couldn't have done what this Kara Kent had done in stopping Barry, but maybe if she had been there, her powers at least, could have stopped Zoom. If she hadn't flared out with Alex the first time she would have been with Barry earlier too, she could have stopped Henry from dying. It was guilt that still lay with her in her darkest moments.

Barry sighed. "Well I'm hungry," he stood now and moved towards the door. "What do you think working on a farm is like?"

"Haven't done anything yet," Kara smirked in reply.

-PowerFlash-

"Why do Flashes always get chased by chickens?" Kara Kent said as she saw Prime Barry running from the bird she had sent him to feed. While in January the farm didn't grow the crops, there was still some work to do – not as much as during the growing season though. Since Kent Farm had a few animals, they still needed taking care of and the equipment needed preparing for the spring. Plus, there was also a lot of marketing and budgeting that needed to be done as well, apparently.

Kara Wells was helping Kent fix a problem with the tracker, not that Kara Wells knew anything about tractors, but she could at least hand equipment and lift the machine up for Kent when required. Kal had been taking care of the horses and giving them some exercise while Barry-Stalker, as Prime Barry had dubbed his double overnight in scathe, had gone to get their Cisco from Central. That left Prime Barry feeding the animals in his place.

"Let me go grab this," Kara Kent said, running after Prime Barry and the bird, as Kara Wells couldn't help but laugh.

"The tractor needs work again?" Kara Wells suddenly heard a voice say behind her, and turned to see a blonde woman she didn't know. "You know I have been telling you to replace that for years." The woman was smiling at Kara, clearly mistaking her for her double and not taking in the confused look on Kara Wells' actual face. "Now girl, when did you cut your hair? I know I have been gone for a while, but this is something you at least tell your best friend."

"I'm not –" Kara started.

"It looks good though. Was I the inspiration for this?" It was true, Kara Wells' shoulder-length hairstyle was similar to the one this girl supported, although her style was more… flamboyant. "Ah, come here." The girl moved forward and hugged Kara Wells, not being able to explain as she continued talking. "And I know I am a few days later than I said I would be but I stopped by Star City to see Oliver. Man, have I thanked Barry yet for introducing him to me?"

"Chloe?" Kara Kent's voice could be heard as the real Kara of this world walked back in the shed, a chicken in her hand and Prime Barry following. "You're a couple of days late."

"What?!" Chloe said looking back and forth between the two Karas now in confusion. "Um…"

"I was trying to tell you. I'm not from this Earth," Kara Wells said politely.

"Oh," Chloe said rolling her eyes as Kent went to put the chicken back in its coop. "And is this our Barry or…?" Chloe paused as Barry-Stalker chose that moment to turn up with Cisco in his arms.

"This is our stalker," Kara Kent said fondly. "That one is hers." She pointed at Prime Barry.

"Okay, what's with the stalker stuff?" Kara Wells asked, and Chloe laughed.

"Hey Chloe, welcome back," Barry-Stalker said, ignoring the question. "How was the trip?"

"Great," Chloe said shrugging off the two Karas and Barrys easily. "And I found someone for the Justice Society."

"Justice Society?" Prime Barry asked.

"Our Barry started the name," Cisco said to Prime Barry, unfazed by his appearance. "It's a group of Superheroes and Vigilantes. They work together. Right now, it's basically these two, Static, the Star City vigilantes, and they got Wonder Woman to agree to it too."

"The only person who didn't want in is that Bat freak up in Gotham," Kara Kent added.

Kara Wells and Prime Barry looked at each other now. This sounded a lot like the Justice League from the Karry Earth. "So Chloe, are you a recruiter or something?' Kara Wells asked.

"I'm a freelance journalist," Chloe replied. "Travelling the country for articles, but I am also secretly looking for heroes. This one is Cyborg." Chloe held out a picture to the group. "He's a well… cyborg. Half robot, half man. He's a good guy though."

"Tell us more later," Cisco said, turning to the two world hoppers. "I hear I have a machine to look through? Let's go into the Smallville Headquarters."

"Smallville Headquarters?" Prime Barry and Kara Wells asked together as they were lead around back to an old barn.

"Chloe! Hey," Kal called, running up to the group. "I put the horses away Kara. Can I watch?"

"Sure," Kara Kent smiled at her cousin as they walked in and the two world hoppers paused.

The barn had been set up as a small lab, complete with everything one could imagine Cisco or even Caitlin wanted, and on one side of barn were two space ships. "Our pods," Kara Wells stated with a grin, looking at them. Cisco took a seat in a chair as Prime Barry went to grab the device and hand it to him.

"So I hear your Cisco can open portals?" Cisco asked as he started studying the device. "You think I can?"

"If you have the Vibe powers then yeah," Prime Barry answered and Cisco smirked deviously.

Kal was excitingly talking to Chloe in the background, who was telling him all about the new hero she found. Kara Kent and Barry-Stalker were listening in and so were Prime Barry and Kara Wells now.

"Do you think this Cyborg exists on our world?" Kara Wells had to ask her Barry under her breath.

"What about this Static they mentioned?" Prime Barry countered. "There might be a lot more heroes out there than we thought."

"Considering how many there are, that seems impossible," Kara Wells said as she was cut off by a wailing noise. An alarm!

"Guys… problem," Cisco said, stopping his look over of the device. "Mutant alert."

"Mutant?" Kara Wells asked. "You mean meta-human?"

"Wow that's a blast from the past," Cisco sighed, shaking his head as he said it. "No-one calls them meta humans anymore. Not since Lois Lane started reporting about Meteor Mutants and CatCo picked up the word Mutant. Now they're all Mutants. The ones who use to be called meta-humans are Dark Matter Mutants."

"This a Meteor Mutant?" Barry-Stalker asked, snapping Cisco out of his explanation.

"Well, we are in Smallville so that would be my guess," Cisco said as Kara Wells and Prime Barry looked at each other, a little unsure what the differences in these mutants were. "We're getting video in now."

Footage came up on the computer of two mutants. One was all black, like a shadow, and the other was in some type of purple outfit. "Wait, that Ebon and his brother Rubberband Man," Kara Kent said.

"You know them?" Kal asked, practically on top of the computer to see.

"They are Static's main enemies," Barry-Stalker said. "More of a nuisance to him really. We helped him take out most of their gang. What are they doing here though?"

"So they are Bang Baby Mutants," Cisco continued, Kara Wells and Prime Barry looked at one another again, mouthing 'Bang Baby?' silently now. "It seems they are trying to recruit," Cisco said, turning on the audio to hear Ebon's call for all mutants to band together. A mutant brotherhood that could take over the world from the humans. "Dakota City isn't that far from Kansas. Not a long trip for a new gang."

"Well I guess we're off," Barry-Stalker said, winking at his Kara and they both touched a ring they were both wearing. They were simple rings; Barry's had a red jewel on it and Kara's a blue. They both turned the jewels clockwise and then they were no longer in civilian clothes, but were in their superheroes outfits.

Barry-Stalker's outfit was the same as Prime Barry's. Right down to the symbol with a white background. Kara Kent's though was not the same as the Supergirls they had come to know, or even Kara's outfit – which she has told them she hadn't liked; Kara remembered Kent calling her outfit the 'horrible first one' Cisco made.

This outfit started off similarly to the other Supergirls, with a blue upper-half, although a darker shade of blue to any known Supergirls – the House of El symbol was proudly over the chest, like the others Supergirls, with almost the same color design but it seems even bigger with the white outline to the 'S'. The cape was the same, probably still Kal-El's baby blanket, but that was where the similarities to Supergirl ended. The skirt was not there. Instead she wore red pants that had a white stripe going up the sides. She wore dark blue boots that matched the shirt, and the most striking difference was she was wearing a white mask on her face with red edging to tie it into the outfit more. She had also put her hair up in a ponytail already.

The two were off before anyone could say anything else. "The Flash and Lady Power," Chloe mumbled with a smile. "Think we should give Static a ring and let him know what's going on?"

"More like Lady Liberty," Prime Barry mumbled upon seeing the color pattern this Kara had used. Red, white and blue…

"I'll give Static a buzz," Cisco said, ignoring Barry's comment as he sent a message to the Mutant hero.

Kal was jumping from foot to foot. "Once I am trained enough I am joining them," Kal said to Kara Wells and Prime Barry with a smile, clearly excited about being a hero someday.

"I know you will," Kara Wells said. "You're meant to be a hero." She paused. Deciding on the spur to give the kid some encouragement as she disclosed: "You know, in every world we've been to so far you've been a hero. You were older because you weren't trapped in the Phantom Zone, so in most worlds you're called Superman, and even on my own world you're a Green Lantern. Some people just have a calling – no matter the version." She grinned at the look of awe on Kal's face.

"Superman?" Cisco stated distractedly. "That's something…"

Kara Wells and Prime Barry looked at each other again now. They had a calling too, and they couldn't just sit here and do nothing. In a flash and a blur they were in their superhero outfits they had left in the house and Cisco was staring at Kara. "That outfit is amazing on you! Why did our Kara not like it?"

"I think it has something to do with the House of El," Chloe pointed out, nodding to the smaller logo off-center, over her heart.

"Power Girl and The Flash are joining in. Give us a com." Prime Barry said, not contributing to the conversation himself.

"Power Girl? That was what I wanted to call her too!" Cisco said as he connected both their coms to the frequency he was using. Kara Wells had to smirk at that. Oh, she had to tell her Cisco that when she got back.

"Cat Grant named me, my Cisco approved of it… eventually," Kara Wells said as the two ran off to catch up to their counterparts.

-Powerflash-

Lady Power and her Flash had arrived where Ebon and Rubberband Man were, they hadn't even started to do anything about this mutant problem when Cisco informed them of the other-world doubles coming to help. The pair rolled their eyes but said nothing as they looked at the two Bang Baby Mutant. "This is our town now boys," The Flash announced. "And you're not welcome to cause trouble."

"Well, trouble came to you Flash," Ebon stated. "You came to our city after all. It's only fair." Ebon shifted his shape and went right at Lady Power, who threw out a punch as she started the fight.

Rubberband Man went into a ball and bounced, as his name suggested, towards The Flash who ran from the bounce. Rubberband Man stretched out an arm and took hold of Flash's arm and Flash ran, dragging Rubberband Man with him.

When Prime Flash and Power Girl showed, Lady Power was still fighting Ebon, who seemed to be able to change his shape, his form seeming to remain in constant darkness, despite the light. "You two didn't have to come," Lady Power, said flying up and sending a heat vision at Ebon who vanished into shadow and appeared behind Lady Power to grab her. Prime Flash ran and punched the Bang Baby Mutant.

"Will one of the Karas go after our Barry?" Cisco said over the coms. "Freeze breath Rubberband Man!"

"I got it!" Power Girl said, "Lead the way Cisco." Power Girl flew off as fast as she could, followed by this Earth's Flash who Rubberband Man had attached to. When she got close enough, Power Girl used her freeze breath on the villain, which caused him to detach himself from The Flash.

The Flash span and went back, punching Rubberband Man as hard as he could while Power Girl sent another arctic blast on the mutant. She paused to catch her breath, and when she did The Flash threw lightning at Rubberband Man, knocking him out. "One good thing Zoom left behind… The lightning toss trick has come in handy."

"Yeah," Power Girl agreed, knowing that trick had come in handy more than once for Prime Flash too.

…

"The school is nearby," Lady Power told Prime Flash.

"We'll keep him away from it," Prime Flash agreed.

"No, I want you to go to the school field," Lady Power said, confusing Prime Flash. "Wow, you're a lot stupider than my Flash."

"I got it," Chloe said over the coms. "This thing is a living shadow. It's weak to light, right?"

"Intense," Lady Power confirmed, smiling to herself at her friend's smarts.

"Like the light the football field lamps can make! Even with the sun out it should work," Cisco finished getting where this was going. "If you get him directly underneath it."

"Got it," Prime Flash said, running to the school and to the football field, setting the lights up. "And in my defense, I hadn't a clue what this Ebon guy's power was, okay, Lady?"

A few moments later Ebon and Lady Power came fighting in. Despite being shadow, it seemed physical attacks did hurt this guy but he healed quickly. Kara grabbed hold of Ebon and threw him right under the light and Prime Barry turned it on.

Ebon screamed as the light hit him; he disappeared into a momentary pool of darkness and then was gone. "Where did he go?" Prime Flash asked in sudden confusion, but Lady Power shrugged.

…

The Flash and Power Girl were about to bring Rubberband Man to the police when an overwhelming darkness seemed to suddenly encase them, neither Flash nor Power Girl could see or move, or even cry out. A moment later and the enclosing darkness vanished – along with their foe. Rubberband Man had gone.

"I think we scared the villains off," Power Girl said, shrugging off the fear she had felt in that darkness.

"Urgh, those two will be back," Flash said, knowing very well this was a short-lived victory from the stories Static told. At least they'd stopped Ebon and Rubberband Man's recruitment tactics for the moment.

-PowerFlash-

Kara Wells, Kara Kent, and Kal spent the afternoon playing an interesting game of catch. Kara Wells hadn't known playing catch could be so much fun, but when all three of them were super-powered Kryptonians, it made sense. It was lucky the Kents had so much land. The Cisco of this world had enhanced a football so the high speeds and strength they were using didn't do too much damage to it. It was a bit heavier than a normal football, but it didn't bother the group of Kryptonians. They had even included the Barrys, throwing far and having them run after it. Seeing who would get it first.

"That was fun," Kara Wells said when it was time to end the game.

"A lot more fun with three people," Kal said, smiling his agreement. "Well three Kryptonians. Hey can we show Kara Wells the fighting techniques Diana showed us?"

"If we have time." Kara Kent said tossing the football up in the air and catching it. "And did you do your homework?"

"It's Saturday!" Kal complained, pulling a face. "I'll do it tomorrow."

"You better, young man. I get enough complaints from your school on you breaking things," Kara Kent said with a serious smile at her little cousin. Kara Wells had to smile to herself at the mother/son relationship here. It explained so much why this Kara had reminded her of Alura on their first meeting. This Kara might be different to herself or the other Karas they knew, but she had a lot more responsibilities to deal with. She had clearly done her job and done it right though. It was something Kara Wells knew most other Karas would be jealous of, but at the same time, hopefully pleased to know that it would have worked out had all the pieces fell into place at the right time for the cousins.

"So, fighting techniques?" Kara Wells asked, curious. She knew she could probably use some more training when it came to technique – there was only so much one could do when not equally powered to her training partner, namely Alex. She was okay, but if she was against someone highly trained of equal strength she knew she would have problems. She couldn't take on Maxima. Not really. Barry had had to teleport her away for them to sort-of win that battle. And from Jesse's account of her time on Karry Earth, Kara Allen there could defeat Maxima in battle, so Kara Wells needed to hone in some better fighting skills somehow.

"You might want to hold off on that," Chloe said, appearing from the barn or 'Smallville Headquarters' as she called to the trio. "Cisco has given the device his okay. He says we can activate it."

"It's getting late," Prime Barry said, knowing his Kara wanted to stay a bit longer but seeing the sun going down anyway. "We can stay the night if you want to?" He hadn't made up with his double, but would tolerate him if Kara wanted to stay longer.

"Nah, we can go home," Kara Wells said, knowing her Barry still had a dislike of the Barry of this Earth. If the way they were tackling each other to get to the football first was any indication, the dislike was mutual. "Besides, we'll likely have to return to set up the communications system once Cisco, well our Cisco, is happy the Enhancer works satisfactorily."

"Communication system?" Kal asked.

"Yeah an inter-Earths communication system. We can talk to each other once we get that set up," Kara Wells said to Kal with grin.

"Does that mean you're coming back?" Kal asked. "I'd like to learn more of your Earth."

"Definitely," Kara Wells said. "Or you may visit us some day. If your Cisco can learn how to open portals. Actually, the Enhancer should work in reverse for him…"

"Going to be working on that," Cisco called out from the barn that they had been walking toward.

Prime Barry smirked as he ran to grab Kara Wells and steer her in the direction of the Enhancer, set up on a table for the moment. "You all might want to take a step back. When we activate this our Cisco will know and open a portal home instantly."

He was right. The moment they'd activated it, like before on both Karry Earth and SuperEarth, the familiar blue ripple appeared in mid-air, expanding quickly to a full-on swirling vortex. Kara Wells grinned back at her double and Kal momentarily, and then she and Prime both sped forward.

The last thing they heard of this Earth was Cisco saying "I have to learn how to do that…"

-PowerFlash-

They landed in STAR Labs, greeted by Vibe, Martin, Harry and Caitlin. Cisco whipped off his Vibe goggles as he grinned at the pair.

"It worked!" He cried as the blue vortex faded behind them. "What on Earth was that Earth though? I thought I saw a farm, and a boy…?"

"You did and there was," Barry replied. "Kara… she'll explain. It's really good to see you, all of you."

"We really thought you would be there until tomorrow. What happened over there?" Caitlin sounded concerned at the despondent vocals Barry now spoke with.

"He and his double didn't get on," Kara explained quickly. "The Barry of that world made decisions… well, let's just say that world is very different to this one. I never did ask about their Jesse though."

"Jesse?" Harry now spoke up, worried. It might not be his Jesse but any form of Jesse was his daughter and he could not stand any one of them being in trouble. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, dad… Just Kara over there isn't a Wells and I didn't know what she and Jesse were like…" she didn't have the heart to tell him that there was a parallel Earth-2 that had been destroyed by Zoom. At least he had his Earth-2 still surviving and well.

"Oh, I can't wait to Vibe that place! Did you ask about the communications system?" Cisco added. "Can we set it up with them?"

"Yeah, once you're comfortable with the Enhancer," Barry shrugged.

"Awesome," Cisco grinned. "What are we calling this Earth, by the way?" Instantly at this request Martin sighed behind Cisco as thoughts of names came up. He silently punched the bridge of his nose as Cisco noticeably ignored him. "Come on, we named all the others. This one needs a name."

Barry mumbled something unrecognizable under his breath and Kara rolled her eyes, knowing it was up to her to name the Earth this time. "Okay, what about New Karry Earth? It's the second Earth where Kara and Barry were together…" Kara paused though, and shook her head. "No, actually, I don't like it. It sounds like the name of a spin-off fanfiction."

Cisco chuckled at this as Barry muttered something else Kara couldn't make out as she thought up another: "Oh, Kansas Earth! No, just because we were in Kansas doesn't mean anything. It's just a place that exists here as well. Same as Smallville…"

"Wicked Earth," Barry brought up, a little darkly as Kara turned to face him. "You know, like the play based on The Wizard of Oz, not because of that other Barry…" he tried to save himself but Kara had her eyebrow raised threateningly already at this suggestion.

"You know, that Jesse calls that Earth's Kara 'Farmgirl'… wait no I got it!" Kara now cried as Barry went back to his non-committal mood.

"Okay what is it?" Cisco asked.

"Mutant Earth," Kara said; everyone but Barry looking confused at this. "They don't call meta-humans 'meta-humans' anymore. They call them mutants and there are different types. Never figured out the difference between them but there are at least three different variations: Dark Matter Mutants, Meteor Mutants and Bang Baby Mutants… so, Mutant Earth."

"I like Mutant Earth," Cisco said with an impressed look and a nod.

"I think now it's time for us to complete our map, Mr. Ramone," Martin spoke up at little too casually, Cisco turning to Stein and nodding.

"Yeah. Okay." He looked back to the others, "Later guys. Thanks again!" He grabbed his goggles and moved off with Stein as Harry moved over to his daughter and Caitlin moved to Barry's side.

"That other Barry… he must have been very different to make you like this," Caitlin spoke to her friend cautiously, moving Barry to the privacy of the med bay.

"Very different," Barry grumbled. He considered telling Caitlin all, but realized that if that Earth's Cisco had never re-opened a portal to that Earth's Earth-2, Caitlin would never have been captured by Zoom and put through all that torment, so shut his mouth, his heart sinking a little. "I'll be fine though, I just… I don't want to go back there. When Cisco sets up the communications device, he and Kara can go alone, or take Jesse with them. I'm sure Jesse would like that."

"Hmm," Caitlin pondered. She'd get it out of him eventually, she just had to be patient. And boy was Caitlin Snow patient.

* * *

 _So, I haven't got anything written yet for the next episode, as I said above, but can tease the following: -_

 _Next time…_

 _Star City is in trouble._

 _But then again, what else is new?_

 _There are only two active vigilantes* protecting the city, and not even Mayor Queen's new dedicated police force can relieve The Green Arrow and Speedy of the onslaught of hell on their turf. So, with Quick and Silver keeping an eye on Central City, will recruiting The Flash and Power Girl into Star City's ranks, if only for a few days, help tip the scales?_

 _And what of the rumors surrounding a female ninja killing anyone who dares come into her path?_

 _One thing's for sure – Barry and Kara have never quite faced anything like this before…_

 _(*the events of Arrow Season 5 haven't happened in this story, even if I do like Ragman, Wild Dog, Artemis and Curtis – this is something brand new.)_

* * *

Post-chapter Note 1: So firstly, I want to quickly explain something I purposefully left out explaining before the episode, and that's the real reason behind the dedication of this episode. You see, two-thirds of this was in fact written by CharmedMillie- Karry Master herself! Yes, that's right, I have deceived you all! The truth is, I honestly didn't have time to write the whole thing up to be posted up anywhere near this date, and with CharmedMillie knowing her New Karry story, knowing what she wanted to see in this episode and how freakishly quickly she writes, I begged her to write everything that happened on 'Mutant Earth' for me and she kindly did so. I am in her debt now and I'm glad of it!

Post-chapter Note 2: Secondly, again mentioned above… the next update. I know I have only three episodes left, but that thing called Life (with the capital 'L'!) is getting in my way. I find I'm not as free to write as I once was and have been desperately trying to produce an episode a week which, as you all have seen, I have failed at recently. I don't want to do that again. I want to get the next three written, done and dusted before I post them up. If that means a month's gap between this chapter and the next, then so be it. I hope you all can understand.

Post-chapter Note 3: Lastly I need to apologize. Again, I have let myself down by neglecting to interact with all you reviewer! I tell myself "I'll do it later tonight," or "First thing tomorrow and I'll respond," but I never get around to it. I'm 100% to blame and I have no real excuse beside laziness, and maybe putting priority into writing episodes and Life being the bitch that it is right now. I will get on it. I will. Feel free to pester me with PMs if there's anything you really want to know – I can't ignore tons of PMs, after all.

PS: What do we all think of the new season of our Arrowverse shows? I'm loving them all in their own rights, including Arrow which is surprising me as I lost faith in that branch of the Arrowverse last year. Then again, we are in early days of the new season. Can't wait for the multi-show crossover though, simply and aptly titled: _Invasion!_


	19. The Starling Killer

Note: **Please read all my notes at the end of this chapter as they are important**. I will now however say that this chapter is heavily reliant on Arrow, so those who don't know the show mat get lost; I try and explain everything with Kara and Barry not up to speed on all things Star City themselves, but sometimes even I get a little lost… Also, for the true Arrow-heads out there, if I mess up some bits of Arrow's continuity, I apologise – I've only really watched all 100 episodes once (when they've aired) so the earlier stuff is slightly lost on me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing Arrow, Supergirl or Flash-related. Also, I'm aware Starling City is meant to now be Star City in lieu with the comics, but with STAR Labs too it gets a little confusing, so the name has been changed back to 'Starling' in this episode and explained thusly.

Dedication: I've dedicated to this person before, but I want to shout out to Frog1 again as, this chapter may be lacking in the elusive 'heart' he so likes. If it's there, brilliant, but if not, I'm sorry, man, I am.

Please remember that Flashpoint and season 5 of Arrow **have not happened** in this story.

Episode Nineteen – The Starling Killer.

The elevator doors to the Arrow HQ opened to reveal the Green Arrow, Speedy and Spartan, each strolling out at their own speed and no-one talking until the woman at the computers in the centre of the room turned her chair to face the trio and sighed.

"You almost killed the man!" She addressed the leader in the green hood.

"But I didn't," The Green Arrow stated, removing his hood to show his face as he now folded his arms. "The guy had intel and wasn't willing to give it away unless by extreme measures."

"And by extreme measures, you obviously mean breaking the guy's legs?" His companion in the red outfit retorted instantly. "Did you at least know there was grass below?"

"It was only five storeys!" Oliver Queen stated, moving opposite the women now as he looked to the silent man in the helmet, looking for someone in his corner.

"I'm sorry, man, but I'm with them," Diggle stated with a sigh. "Of course, this would be a lot easier if we had more in the team…"

"Well, Laurel's dead–" Olly instantly snapped. The subject matter of Laurel Lance still raw to him, even a year after her demise and the existence of her clone-twin, Dinah. The clone was similar but different from his former lover; even so, Olly didn't want her to be the same person anyway. It would be weird replacing Laurel with someone identical, almost a dishonour to her memory.

"That's not what he meant…" Felicity Smoak muttered, turning her back on Olly now and bringing up images on her computer screen of three individuals.

"Ragman left when you told him about Havenbrook," Oliver stated dryly at seeing his image, knowing what this was all leading to. Felicity and Thea had teamed up against him several months ago about bringing in new people – he had reluctantly recruited a survivor of the Havenbrook disaster, a man with enchanted robes called 'Ragman'; only when Felicity revealed to him that she had been responsible for the destruction of his home city did he leave and never come back.

Ever since then however, Felicity had hoped he would be more susceptible to widening the team. It wasn't until a few weeks after Ragman left that Olly had broken Diggle out of jail to bring him back to the team as Spartan, after all.

"He did," Felicity bit her lip at the Ragman comment, "and Curtis left after you flat-out refused to let him join the team."

"He's an Olympian, not a vigilante," Oliver dismissed easily.

"Okay, fine. If you didn't put that Ramirez guy in hospital the other week…" Felicity now tried.

"Ramirez?" Olly raised an eyebrow.

"Wild Dog," Thea now commented, and Oliver just nodded solemnly.

"The guy was out of control; he would have gotten himself killed –"

"If you hadn't almost killed him first!" Felicity replied, almost groaning as she pressed a button on her keyboard to reveal the face of a female.

"No, Felicity," this was Thea this time however, "not the Canary-wannabe. She's like, sixteen!"

"Eighteen now actually, and her parents were murdered by Damien Darkh – she's on the warpath herself, if we don't take her under our metaphorical wing…" Felicity tried.

"I'm with her on this one," even Diggle spoke up for this. "Evelyne Sharpe is too young. She should be worrying about boys and school, not revenge and murderers…"

"Maybe you tell her that then," Felicity replied darkly, more to herself though.

"What's this all about?" Oliver stepped forward, toward Felicity now. "Do you not think the three of us aren't getting the job done?"

"You're the Mayor!" Felicity stood at this, "and you're his Chief of Staff" she addressed Thea at that one.

"So?" this time Thea folded her arms, ever the imitation of her brother.

"So… You have other duties – even Diggle's a fugitive. What if someone tries to assassinate you guys? Or Diggle's mask slips and he ends up back in jail? You guys can't run around all willy-nilly these days and expect no repercussions. You need back up too. There's a killer about the city in case you haven't noticed and while a team of three worked back in the days of Slade Wilson, having back-up isn't exactly a bad thing now!" She groaned as she sat back down, trying to keep her temper down too, now.

"What are you up to?" Oliver asked, moving over to the angered Felicity as she tried to ignore him. "You've sorted out something, haven't you?" he tried to coax it out of her.

"Look. The fact is, Sara and clone-Laurel won't come back," Felicity groaned, stating reason now. She had reached out to Sara before Christmas, especially since it seemed Sara was no longer travelling through time, but she had refused and didn't want her new sister in danger. They were save in Central City these days. "Ray is happy in Central City now he and Caitlin are an item – hell, even Captain Lance has left town so can't be of help. Even Nyssa Al Gaul wants nothing to do with us! I can understand why you'll be resistant to adding new people, I can, but Ramirez and Evelyn…" she paused now, looking between the vigilante trio now as she sighed. "Fine, since we can't get our oldies back, and none of you are willing to spring for newbies… I asked Barry…"

"Barry?" Oliver laughed at this. "Fast though he is, he's not exactly vigilante-material himself. Besides, doesn't he have Central City…?"

"Quick and Silver are on the ball with that, plus the new meta-human taskforce there are pretty damn good these days and Sara and the ATOM are about too. Look, Barry's bored, and his boss fired him so –"

"He's been fired?" Thea now asked, concerned for her friend.

"Yeah, Captain Singh hired some Dorn guy over him and with Barry taking so much time off he got fired. It's all very weird and controversial, but he's kinda glad of it and wanted a break before he started something new. Plus, he wanted to show Kara this city," Felicity ranted.

"Kara…?" Thea grinned. Out of the four in the Arrow HQ, she alone had met Power Girl back when she herself was still dating Nightwing. "Is she coming too?"

"Yes, she is," a new voice was heard at the same time as the elevator doors opened. Illuminated from within were three figures; one all knew, the second some knew and the third… well, the third was canine.

"Did you guys wait in there for the perfect entry line?" Diggle asked, a little bemused at this as Oliver groaned to himself.

"Super-hearing," Kara pointed out, a little smugly.

"What's with the city rebranding?" Barry asked however, as he moved into the HQ. "I thought it was called Star City now, not Starling again…?"

"Olly's idea," Thea stated as she moved over to hug her friends. "The rebranding was done under old administration, under Darkh's influence. We didn't want that lingering, so changed it back. Plus, their excuse was Ray's death and as he's very much alive… well, it's moot." Barry nodded his understanding at this.

"Welcome to the Arrow HQ!" Felicity now spoke up, addressing Kara now. "Who's the dog?" She bent down to get a better look at the golden retriever, but the animal growled at her, a little intimidated by the large, unfamiliar group.

"Powie," Kara half-introduced, half-warned as the dog backed away slightly, although remaining in front of her mistress to guard. "She's from my home world, has pretty much the same powers as me and seems to only answer to myself, Barry and Jesse so far," she bent down to stoke the dog between her ears.

"She's cute," Oliver stated, a little vaguely however as he looked up to Barry now. "What's this I hear of you getting fired?"

Barry reddened at this as Kara moved to the side, forcing her boyfriend in the line of the Green Arrow's fire as she looked on bemusedly – Powie, however, stayed between herself and Felicity; for some reason, Kara had yet to suss out, her dog didn't seem to like the female tech geek.

"Singh thought I wasn't putting all into the job," Barry muttered, "so he let me go and hired on Julian Dorn over me."

"He's the Brit who looks like Draco Malfoy, right?" Felicity asked airily.

"How…?" Barry now looked to his friend, amazed at her ability to know this information.

"I may have hacked into the Central City Police Department staff records when you told me to get a look at this guy," Felicity muttered airily as Barry and Oliver rolled their eyes to this admittance.

"What are you going to do now though?" Oliver asked of Barry.

"Oh, I thought I'd travel Europe, write a book…" Barry muttered airily before stating suddenly more seriously. "I'm considering other things, Olly; I'm not going to go into some unemployed stupor now I don't work for the CCPD. I have a whole diploma I can back up, and then there's STAR Labs…"

"STAR Labs?" Felicity interrupted again, and Kara couldn't help but silently groan to herself, now beginning to know why her pet didn't like the other blonde.

"Yeah, it's been dilapidated for ages and when we hopped to other worlds… well on one there was proof that STAR could rank in a lot of money if re-opened. But I'm still a little unsure about it." Barry said, taking this decision seriously. His counterpart on Karry Earth had done it so easily after all, and the money they claimed they were making was something to content to.

"Hopped to other…? Never mind. Well, if you need some good references… the Mayor of Starling City is your friend," Oliver winked at Barry, who smirked at this.

"What's up with you though Dig?" Barry tried to change tact, not wanting to be in the limelight for too long. "Did I hear you escaped military jail or something some months back? Lyla doesn't really speak much about you these days when we see her."

"That's wise of her," Diggle stated. "But yes, it's a long story which ended with Oliver breaking me out against my will. ARGUS are still figuring out how to deal with that one, but at least I'm there for little Sara when I can be."

"How is baby Sara?" Kara now spoke up. She had met Lyla and Diggle's daughter only once when she had been at ARGUS before the she'd come back to Barry's aide. She was an extremely adorable little girl – although at the time Kara hadn't trusted herself to handle the baby, as she hadn't had a handle her own powers at that point.

"Not so baby-like. She's celebrated her second birthday back in November last year; she's growing up fast," Diggle looked a little despondent at this though. He had been missing so much of her life, even outside of jail now that he had to remain at an ARGUS safe location.

"And she's soon to have a little sibling," Felicity spoke up happily, Diggle scowling at Felicity for this reveal as Kara practically squealed and Barry smirked, patting Diggle on the back in congratulation.

"Lyla and I didn't want to say…" Diggle muttered, not meeting anyone's eyes at this. "With myself on the run, as it were, when Lyla starts showing… well questions will be asked. She doesn't want to say she was unfaithful to me, but if she's known to be hiding a fugitive…"

"We'll figure something out," Oliver muttered reassuringly. "We have time."

"Not much of it," Diggle stated with a sigh.

"Where's Nightwing?" Kara suddenly asked, turning to Thea at this as Oliver backtracked in his head to figure out what Power Girl meant by this.

"Dick?" Thea asked, confused herself.

"You two were… you know," Kara tried, "and now… well, he's not here."

"Oh, he's back in Blüdhaven; he has his city to protect, I have mine… you know how it is," Thea waved her hand dismissively. She'd had fun with Nightwing but sometimes relationships just didn't last.

"I've got someone though," Felicity suddenly spoke up, "you know, in case you were wondering since Oliver and I… well," she glanced at her former boyfriend at this as Kara tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at Felicity butting in. "He's a Detective in the force. Billy." Felicity smiled to herself. Kara had to give her that though; Felicity was still in the honeymoon stage of her relationship it seemed, where she just wanted to shout it to the world and it seemed Oliver didn't mind, or care, considering he didn't really react to this information.

"Detective, eh?" Barry now muttered, looking briefly to Felicity before turning to Oliver again.

"Speaking of, any word from Quentin?" Oliver asked Barry now, who did a doubletake himself on this question.

"Should I?" Barry wondered.

"He moved to Central to be close to Sara and Laurel's clone," Oliver said matter-of-factly. "And he's still dating Felicity's mom who lives there, so it was a no-brainer for him. I thought he'd drop in on you but obviously not."

"Not really seen any of the Lances for a while," Kara now spoke up. "But when we go back we'll check up on them. I'm sure he's fine." She smiled politely at Oliver.

"Which you can do now," Oliver replied, almost in equal politeness to Kara.

"I'm sorry?" Barry spoke up before Kara could respond herself.

"I know Felicity invited you here to help us out, but Spartan, Speedy and myself have this all-in order, seriously," he scowled at Felicity now for this.

"Yeah, I think not," Barry now countered. "Don't think Felicity didn't tell us what was going on here. You need us, you need a team – well, a bigger team," he nodded to Thea and Diggle. "You need us." He repeated imploringly.

"You're not going to head back even if I demand it, are you?" Olly stated, glancing between Barry and Felicity now.

"Nopes!" Kara now shook her head in confirmation. "Powie and I are staying."

"As am I," Barry added.

"Fine," Olly groaned. "But not tonight. We've done all we can tonight and the Mayor's got a big meeting tomorrow."

"We're finally addressing the problems in the Glades," Thea added with a smirk. That was a few years in the making, from what Barry could remember of Malcolm Merlyn blowing the whole place up nearly five years ago.

"I take it you've got a place to stay?" Olly now asked the Central City superheroes.

"At mine," Felicity pointed out happily.

"Wait, where are you living now?" Barry couldn't help but ask his friend.

"They Mayor has a sweet pad down town," Thea cut in before Olly could respond to this one, "and so does his Aide." She grinned wickedly.

"Nice," Barry nodded appreciatively.

-PowerFlash-

Kara and Barry were in the room Felicity had set up for them. Powie was lying at the bottom of the bed, snoozing lazily. "Hey Barry," Kara said as she finished putting on her pyjamas. "How close are you and Felicity?" for her entire life, including those memories from Alien Earth, she had never disliked someone who was not evil, but for some reason Felicity was really getting on her nerves.

"Um… what?" Barry asked having barely paid attention and finally realized what Kara said. "We're good friends. Very close. We had a thing once but it never really went anywhere. I was too focussed on Iris and she was too obsessed with Oliver. Why?"

"No reason," Kara said, wondering how she could not like someone that Barry did.

"Okay…" Barry said clearly not knowing what Kara meant, or realizing Kara her feeling for Felicity as he came over and kissed her. "You know, this will be the third time we're sharing a bed and the first time in this world." When they'd world hopped, they'd shared beds, but they hadn't yet on their own world. It was insane really, but with Barry living with Joe and Kara with Harrison it was impractical. Kara smiled though as they kissed, it quickly deepening.

Kara moved her hand to bring Barry down onto the bed, but there was a loud crack and Barry cried out in pain. He instantly jerked away from her, moving a hand to his left shoulder. His left arm looked weirdly crooked suddenly and Kara instantly stood up, horrified. It had happened again.

"It's okay." Barry winced at seeing Kara's shock.

At that moment though Felicity, having heard the scream, came running in, ready for anything but seemed confused at the scene she came in to. "What happened?" Felicity asked, a little cautiously now.

"None of your business," Kara snapped, still concerned about hurting Barry but annoyed at Felicity butting in again.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder," Barry said, deciding not to comment on Kara's snappish response or to tell Felicity what really happened.

"What did you do, fall off the bed?" Felicity asked, looking between the pair.

"Can you snap it back in place?" Barry side-tracked Felicity though. "It'll heal by morning."

"Oh… Okay, yeah, I can snap it back into place." Felicity came to Barry's side. "This will hurt though." Barry cried out as Felicity re-socketed his arm. "I'm not a doctor, but know a thing or two." Felicity smirked. "Be more careful, you two."

Kara said nothing as Felicity left the room, leaving herself and Barry alone. She finally spoke up whrn they were alone again, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't…"

"Hey," Barry said calmly. "It's fine. I heal. We just have to… figure it out." Barry kissed Kara's cheek. "Come on, let's sleep."

Barry laid down on the bed, Powie came up to snuggle next to him but Kara took time to spoon into him. As he quickly drifted off, her mind was working on overtime, going over all the injuries she had caused Barry when they tried to be close, and her mind couldn't help but go back to Caitlin's Christmas advice… she was right. Kara needed to ask another Kara for help, but which one?

-PowerFlash-

The next morning, Kara, Barry and Powie found themselves in the Glades of the city – a place Kara was soon to find out was the suburbs of the city, albeit a badly depilated suburb. From where she stood, in the building crowd of residents in front of a podium not unlike the one Cat used to announce CatCo plans to the world, she could see long-term damage to the surrounding buildings; bad attempts at rebuilding, unsafe structures and, from the use of her x-ray vision, caverns below the surface, only just supporting the roads above by use of temporary structures.

Kara worried for this place instantly, only doing her best not to rip off her pedestrian clothes to reveal her superhero outfit below. She felt a hand on her arm and looked to see Barry's grip on her forearm, a calm expression on his face, and instantly felt calmer for his contact. He knew what was upsetting her, and he also knew how to calm her. He had healed from the night too – he didn't even mention it when they'd woken earlier.

It was then that the gathered crowds began to hush. Kara looking around to see Thea taking positon behind the podium, again remembering herself behind Cat a few weeks ago, before two men in suits took position on either side of the wooden structure and finally Oliver appeared, stepping out of a small tent at the side to a small smattering of applause from the gathered crowd.

Kara rubbed her eyes and tried not to yawn. Thankfully she didn't need as much sleep as a human. Her mind had been going over the Karas she knew, wondering which one to ask about her little problem. She discounted Mutant Earth's Kara Kent immediately, though, mainly because when they went back to set up the communication system, she had indeed tried to see if Kara Kent had any advice but she hadn't, not having explored that with her Barry yet either.

She had been thinking on the pros and cons of calling Alien Earth's Kara and SuperEarth's Kara for advice, too. So far, she was unsure if either of them would have any. She couldn't recall any experience from her own memories of Alien Earth's Kara, and she wasn't even sure SuperEarth's had been with anyone yet to ask… That left one Kara, and it was the one Kara without an inter-Earth communication system. Well, this should be done in person anyway, but she would need to get Cisco involved. She had to think this over more, but not now. Now she would listen to Oliver.

Kara noticed the media among the public, Dictaphones, cell phones and cameras all ready and waiting as Oliver cleared his throat, winked to Kara and Barry in the crowd and then began…

"My fellow Starling City residents, nearly five years ago, my mother and Malcolm Merlyn plotted to destroy this place, I won't deny my family's contribution to the destruction, but I am here today to announce my latest plans for the rebuild and reinvestment in Starling's Glades. Sebastian Blood started, and failed, in his own plan to revitalise this place, but I have no aim myself in backing down. Four years ago, then-Mayor Blood said I didn't care for the Glades, that my former company wouldn't admit to their faults, but I stand here today, as your elected Mayor, to say that yes, I care for the Glades and I do want to give you back what Moira Queen, Malcolm Merlyn and Queen Consolidates took from you." He paused, to a loud round of applause but held his hand up; he wasn't finished.

"For those of you sceptical, believing this to be some sort of scam or profit to rebuild the Glades in my own, or the city council's, image, I tell you this. Two former citizens of this place I consider friends, so to take over the Glades and rebuild it in any other image would be a violation of their memories. I do not plan on such a thing. I can promise, my own words, that the Glades will be rebuilt to what it was. I offer anyone to help contribute to this restructuring by submitting ideas or plans to my office and I guarantee you will be contacted by myself on whether your ideas will work. Five years after the destruction of this part of the city, your Glades will belong to you, once more." This time there was a much larger round of applause and Kara couldn't help but note how impressive and yet… normal Oliver seemed as the Mayor.

She'd first met him as the Green Arrow last night, a role he seemed so comfortable in, and yet here he stood, making public announcements, and promises as a man who equally felt just as comfortable in this persona as his alter-ego. She had to admire him. The face she put on as simple assistant, Kara Wells, wasn't too dissimilar to Power Girl, but this man had the two very different personas down perfectly; even better than flustered Barry Allen.

Hands rose now, many questions from the public and it was Oliver's time to answer. Kara flashed back to Cat leaving without giving a Q&A and wondered how her boss would have dealt with them; if she would have been as professional as Oliver was now, or if she would have broken down – after all, the Cat Grant of this world was still new to this sort of thing, compared to the one on Alien Earth.

"This is all very well," a female reporter spoke, Oliver had picked her out to speak first it seemed, "but none of this addresses the real issue this city has been faced with for nearly the same amount of time: Vigilantes."

"A very good point," Oliver stated, not even flinching as his other occupation came up in public, "but I don't quite see how it relates to rebuilding the Glades – after all, it wasn't vigilantes that wreaked its destruction, but I will address your concern regardless. The Green Arrow and his friends have been doing good in this city, and while they remain unpaid law enforcers, I see no trouble in trying to stop what they are doing."

"It wasn't the Green Arrow to which I was referring to, Mr. Queen," the reporter responded loudly, amid cries of other questions, "what do you speak of this unnamed, unknown killer among the city? The woman killing at random. Only yesterday the Davernports were found murdered in their home and last week Matthew Overson…" Oliver held up his hand to stop the woman from continuing.

"I understand your concern. This murderer, this anti-vigilante, her means and modes of death and destruction have only been occurring for two months. She's slick and dangerous, but the finest of my police force are constantly on her trail; she will be caught and punished in time. Not even the best cops out there can catch a criminal the first time… now please, questions about the Glades?"

-PowerFlash-

"Nice pad you've got here…" Barry spoke as Oliver and Thea entered the room.

After the announcement and Q&A session, Barry, Kara and Powie had been escorted back to the main part of the city and to the Mayor's office. After only a five minute wait they had been shown into Oliver's office and after another five minutes, Oliver and Thea had turned up. Barry had been impressed with everything Oliver now had, and Kara could sense Barry's mind ticking, to find the best option to getting what Oliver had without becoming the Mayor of Central City himself.

"Thanks," Oliver smirked. "I hope you enjoyed the announcement…?"

"It's taken years for the Glade to get brought back to life," Barry commented, "I just hope you actually go through with it, because you know the track-record for that place."

"It's fine," Olly dismissed, "besides, no other Mayor has been a moonlighting vigilante, that I know of. I can see this through."

"About that…" Kara now spoke up as Powie sniffed at Thea's feet, "what exactly was that about?"

"The announcement?" Olly asked, a little lost now, "Or the destruction of the Glades?"

"Oh, I get that," Kara stated. "That Merlyn freak turned part of the city into little more than a shanty town – I know what he's like, even I've faced off Malcolm Merlyn. No, I mean about this killer? She's been operating for a few months now and not been caught?"

Thea smirked now from the floor – she was fussing Powie to great affection – while Oliver moaned only slightly at this accusation. "I know where you're going here… Felicity's done it a million times now."

"Why are you so resistant to building up your team?" Kara asked, folding her arms at this.

"He's not a people-person," Barry cut in, "it was bad enough he letting in Roy, Thea and Laurel into his team, but to bring in newer people… forget it."

"Barry…" Olly groaned. "Look, it's more complicated than that. Laurel died under my watch, Roy had to fake his death just to get the Arrow free. Do you think I want anything like that on my consciousness? Well, any more than that."

"People die in this game, I get it," Kara spoke up, "but that's just –"

"Don't," Oliver cut her off. "This isn't why I let you three into my office. We need to discuss the first question Anna Hazel addressed."

"Anna Hazel?" Kara countered.

"The journalist intent on badmouthing vigilantes," Thea supplied.

"Her, anyway," Oliver snapped. "Last night Thea, Dig and myself came across a bargaining chip in how to deal with this unnamed, so-called Starling Killer. We think we know where she may be operating from and if you really want to be part of this team, however briefly, then you need to know."

"Okay." Both Barry and Kara nodded solemnly.

"But it's going to be dangerous. This isn't your average Central City meta-human. This is someone who's killing for the benefit of it, who doesn't care how you die – she just wants you dead…" Oliver stated.

"We can handle ourselves; Kara especially," Barry spoke up. "We've got it, man, okay?"

"It's just a matter of… trust," Kara added, her eyes meeting Thea's at this now and doing her best not to smirk at the expression Oliver's sister was now giving her.

-PowerFlash-

"The Flash is scouting the perimeter, Power Girl and Power Dog are in the air," Felicity informed the Green Arrow.

"Power Dog?" Oliver asked into his intercom. "Seriously?"

"If you think up a better name, I'd like to hear it, _Green Arrow_ ," Kara interrupted.

"Well, using the 'Power' thing is a little odd. I get it, you're powerful, but why not use something like Super or, I dunno, Wonder? Not so on the nose but describe you perfectly," Oliver said, smirking to himself. He didn't usually like to chat when on a mission, but these were different times.

"Barry, did you tell them?" Kara asked.

"Wasn't me," Barry said, amused at Olly's confusion.

"Well whatever. Just look up Cat Grant and Power Girl, Olly," Kara stated. "And while we're at it, did you know how boring your city is? I know Central doesn't have that much for tourists, but Starling has literally nothing. A destroyed suburb, an old museum and a park or two… not to mention a large crater… what's up with that?"

"It was part of Damien Darkh plan," Felicity cut in before Olly could talk once more. "He had this whole ark thing, an underground city, but we blew it up before he destroyed the world…"

"He tried to destroy the world?" Kara asked back. While she still hadn't warmed to Felicity, she did get on with her on a communication-level, which helped when she and Barry were bunking at her place.

"Ladies?" Barry interrupted. "Fascinating as this is, we have a killer to catch!"

"Yes," Oliver added. "And I think I have eyes on her." He was in the old aquarium, which had shut down during Darkh's reign on the city and had yet to receive funding on reopening. The fish had, of course, all be relocated to various other aquariums, but the building itself had already gained a dilapidated feel to it.

The man the Green Arrow had crippled the previous night had let on the that the Starling Killer had been operating from the aquarium, and so that led the team to the place now. Olly was surprised Kara hadn't mentioned the aquarium as part of the city's apparent lack of tourism, but maybe its closed status meant it was automatically off her list.

Olly had entered the place alone though, Diggle and Thea taking the front and back entrances while the Flash zoomed around the place in a yellow blur. Kara and Powie were only just visible in the evening sky, hovering and watching.

Inside, The Green Arrow cried: "Show yourself!" his voice manipulated by technology not to sound like Barry's as he fired an arrow at a tank, it shattering and causing an immense explosion of sound.

There was a flash of light and Barry was by his side. "What…?" Barry started, but his hands were suddenly bound, he looked down momentarily and fell over; thick, almost metallic ropes encasing him as Olly momentarily assessed what had happened to his friend before looking up at the movement – a woman, definitely a woman, dressed in black and reds, with a noticeable black cloak and a bandana covering her mouth emerged from the shadows.

"No sudden movements," she stated, her voice barely a whisper as Olly stood to attention and Barry awkwardly rolled over from his tied down position to get a better look. He could vibrate out of this binds and try to grab her, but that would qualify as 'sudden movements' and he didn't quite know this woman's abilities yet – she had killed, after all.

"Who are you?" The Green Arrow asked. "Why are you threatening my city?"

"Your city?" the woman responded. "Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson, Ra's Al Gaul and Damien Darkh would all say differently…"

"The latter two are dead," The Green Arrow responded noncommittedly. "What have they got to do with anything?"

"Five years, Arrow… Green Arrow… Hood… whatever you want to call yourself. Five years and still this city in peril, still being failed by those in power," she stated.

"Failed…?" The Green Arrow hesitated. That sounded familiar.

There was a whistling sound, a momentary streak, and the woman span, grabbing something from the air and throwing it back the way it came in seconds. There was a cry and just beyond her a figure in red fell to the ground.

"Speedy!" The Green Arrow cried, realising his sister had tried to attack the killer, but she had used the arrow Speedy had fired against her. It now stuck out from Speedy's right shoulder as she fell to her knees. A booming noise and part of the ceiling collapsed. A figure in white landed in front of Speedy as the killer turned to face the new arrival, just as a smaller creature landed in front of her mistress.

Power Girl and Power Dog had entered the fray.

Power Girl lunged, but the killer ducked; there was another streak of light and she too found herself bound the same way Barry had. She struggled momentarily, panicking when she couldn't get out of the bounds, in spite her strength but then an arrow flew by her just as Powie snarled. The killer didn't have time to respond to two threats as she caught The Green Arrow's arrow, but Powie sunk her teeth into the killer's arm.

The figure in red and black screamed as the dog released her, but it was oversight that Power Dog realised too late, and she too found herself in the same bonds as her mistress and master.

"That was a mistake!" the killer growled.

"What are you?!" The Green Arrow now shouted, angered at seeing so many of his friends and colleagues taken down too easily.

"They call me Lady Shiva, and you'll find I'm not the last to question your skills, Oliver Queen," her hand moved as Oliver paused, there was a flash of light and when his vision cleared, she had gone.

-PowerFlash-

It had proved difficult to get Kara, Powie and Barry out of their bounds, but Kara's laser vision had come in handy. They found Diggle unconscious outside, knocked out by this 'Lady Shiva' character, and Kara had carried Thea back to the Arrow base. Thea was in pain, but Oliver had quickly taken the arrowhead out of her shoulder and had her bandaged up – ever since Laurel, unless the injury was life-threatening, he wanted to oversee and do any medical procedures himself. Not that he had any proper training beyond his time on Lian Yu, in Asia or Russia anyway.

"So, Lady Shiva," Felicity spoke up once Thea was bandaged up. She hadn't spoken much since the team had returned; she should have been used to the damage Team Arrow inflicted upon themselves over the last few years, but even now proved to be a little squeamish. "She's an assassin for hire."

"Those actually exist?" Kara asked, surprised from her seat. She had been petting Powie at doing a good job at biting their assailant, but had been a little put off she couldn't get out of her bonds. They were going to take a bit of it back to Central when they were done for Cisco to analyse what they were made of – even Barry had had trouble vibrating out of them.

"Seems so," Felicity continued as Oliver moved over to the computer to see first-hand.

"Goes by 'The Paper Monkey' as an alias, but picked up the other name while in the U.S. – very hard to track her record in the States, but in Japan she's got quite a record on her." Felicity continued, "Former member of Brotherhood of the Fist too… they're sort of like the League of Assassins, but more secretive and unknown, like I've only found one detail of them from the eighties but that's beside the point. Oliver, I think I know why she's here, although not on who hired her."

"It's because of the List," Oliver nodded solemnly as she turned to look at him, eyebrow raised.

"How did you…?" she asked.

"She practically spelled it out for me. Said I had 'failed' in protecting the city these past five years," Olly sighed.

"I'm sorry, but what list?" Kara spoke up from her seat.

"Oh, just a hitlist of people who had done the city wrong," Felicity stated, "Oliver's dad made it, passed it on to Olly before he shot himself and Olly enacted his weird vengeance on them when he came back to Starling."

"Olly's a hitman?" Kara suddenly stood.

"Was," Barry now entered the conversation, moving onto the podium Oliver, Felicity, Powie and Kara were, with the computer banks around them.

"You knew?" Kara turned to look at Barry now.

"He was giving it up when I first met him, but yeah, I knew. It was part of his past. Who am I to question that? As long as he's not gone back to his killing ways…"

"Debatable," Felicity implied. "He crippled a guy last night."

"I didn't kill him though," Oliver defended as Kara folded her arms.

"Okay, so the list," Felicity quickly moved back on track. "Somehow Lady Shiva's been hired to assassinate the people on it. There's no order to it though; I have a copy securely on my server, you know, just in case," she shied away from the look Oliver was suddenly giving her, but ploughed on regardless, "but the order she's been taking them out is random. When she first became known here, she'd murdered Brandon Wicker and Paul Jordon, then that Hazel reporter mentioned Matthew Overson and Charles and Gregory Davenport. There's no order. Not in name, not in position in the book… I will find something though, there must be an algorithm or maybe something in Lady Shiva's history to indicate who she's going for next."

"Is no-one going to point out she knew you were the Green Arrow?" Barry suddenly mentioned, addressing Oliver at this.

"No," Oliver quickly countered. "One problem at a time, Barry. Felicity, once you know who's next, let me know. I need to head to the office; I have something I now need to deal with."

"Okay," Barry and Felicity responded as one, glanced to one another and then smirked. Oliver nodded as he moved to the lift. "Let me know when Diggle wakes and when Thea's ready to be moved… Can't have my Chief of Staff not turn up to work," the doors closed as he gave a grimace to the trio.

"Is he always so moody?" Kara instantly turned to the other two now.

"Never mind that now, while he's gone I need to ask you two a favour," Felicity turned to the pair, a look of angst upon her face.

-PowerFlash-

Barry knocked on the back doors to the craft shop before entering regardless. The man within, looked up from the other end of the room, removed his fireproof mask and put down his wielding torch to look at Barry in confusion.

"Can I help? The place is closed today but my boss…" he started.

"Are you Rory Regan?" Barry cut the man off.

"Err yeah. Do I know you?" Rory asked.

"No. But I believe you know my friend, Felicity Smoak," Barry countered as Rory's expression changed remarkable quickly. He scowled at Barry as he pulled the mask back down.

"Shop's closed, come back Monday. I don't know any Felicity Smoak," he was about to switch on the blowtorch, in an attempt to ignore Barry, but the speedster had the thing, and his mask, out of Rory's possession before the former-vigilante could move. "What…?" Rory looked stunned.

"I'm sorry, but you need to listen to me," Barry stated as Rory now took a step back.

"You're the Flash," more of a statement than a question.

"And you're Ragman. Or you were…" Barry stated. "Look, I get it though. Felicity did you wrong and you left Team Arrow because of this, but you have no idea how much this is killing her."

"Killing _her_?" Rory now took a step forward again, all shock at Barry's identity gone as anger took over. "The woman nuked my city! She killed everyone I knew and loved in one finger-click. You have no idea what that's like, or how to deal with it!"

"Actually, I do," Barry kept calm, he knew why Felicity had asked him to speak to Rory now. "My mom was killed, my dad imprisoned for his murder and for a year I worked for, and with, her real murderer. Was I angry when I found out? Of course! Would I ever forgive him? No, because let's face it, he intended to kill my mother – in fact, he intended to kill me too, but Felicity? She didn't intend to murder anyone. You know she doesn't have a bad bone in her body, right?"

"I don't know… I don't really know her, or what's she's capable of," Rory stated, a little taken aback at Barry's revelation. "But I do know she's the most brilliant mind on the planet and should the mood take her she could destroy Central City, just as easily as she destroyed Havenbrook."

"Did she even explain to you why she redirected the nuke to your city?" Barry now tried. "Do you even realise the true dilemma she faced?"

"No…" Rory stated, a little wearily now.

"Damien Darkh." Felicity had filled Barry in, a little wearily, about everything before he'd come here. "He had a megalomaniacal plan to destroy the whole world and start again. He had some 'ark' in this very city where he and select individuals would remain while the nuclear fallout happened across the globe. He set hundreds of nuclear warheads to go off in direct locations, to make the destruction complete, but Felicity – the woman you're happy to hate on – stopped all but one of them. The one that destroyed your city? That's the only one she couldn't stop. Yes, it was directed from another city, I won't let her off entirely, but she'd thought she'd set it to over water… the coordinates were off and Havenbrook was struck. Ever since then, for practically a year now, she has felt the guilt of all those lives on her shoulder. As the Flash, I may take what I do too seriously, but Felicity? She has a real weight on her shoulder. If you could find it in yourself to actually face her and talk…?"

"What?" Rory finally spoke, his mind a little blank at all Barry had had to say, "What do you want? Do you want me to forgive her, to make her feel just slightly better for what she's done?"

"Yes, actually. But not for her. For yourself. Take the higher ground. People like us, we take others for granted and when we find someone who can actually make a difference, like Felicity and Team Arrow, we only ever get that once chance. Please. Talk to her. Let her explain herself properly. She at least deserves that."

Rory sighed. He had been leaning against a countertop throughout this but now stood to attention once more as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I suppose I could… she tried to come to me last year but I wouldn't hear her. I needed time."

"I think you've had enough time. Talk to her. Help her to help yourself," Barry smiled now. "We deserve happiness, you know."

-PowerFlash-

"Evelyn Sharpe?" Kara called out. She, along with Barry, had been tasked by Felicity to track down the potential team members for Team Arrow, despite Olly wishing against it. Barry had been asked to go after a Rory person, while Kara had taken on Evelyn Sharpe; a girl who, according to Felicity, had been through the worse of this Damien Darkh's schemes and tried to take over Laurel's mantle of the Black Canary once. She had potential though, and that was why Kara now stood before the surprised girl.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, she stood outside Starling cemetery, a place she frequented often when not trying to be a vigilante at night.

"Kara Wells," Kara stated, moving closer as Powie kept close to her mistress' side.

"Nice dog. What do you want?" Evelyn crossed her arms, defensive.

"To recruit you, actually," Kara smirked.

"Recruit me? You're not one of those religious salesmen expecting me to join some sort of cult because my parents –"

"I'm aware what happened to your mom and dad," Kara stated, the smirk falling now. "Damien Darkh."

"How did you know?" Evelyn stammered.

"I'm a friend of The Green Arrow's. And he wants you in his team… well, sort of."

"I'm not team material," Evelyn stated, still defensively.

"And yet you're still listening to me," Kara stated. "Look, I've been told that you seek vengeance for your parents, that you idolised the Black Canary and tried to start a one-woman vendetta against Ruve Adams, Darkh's wife, and now that she's dead you have nothing to fill that void. Nothing except taking to the streets each night to take out petty criminals. You're destined to the vigilante game, Evelyn, and Team Arrow can help you, they can train you and who knows where you'll be this time next year."

"Are you a vigilante then?" Evelyn sighed. "Did the Green Arrow recruit you, too?"

"Not exactly…" Kara smirked as she glanced around to see if they were alone and then lifted off from the ground by about a foot to the shock of the former fake-Canary.

"You're her!" Evelyn almost shouted, adding more quietly, "Central City's Power Girl!"

"I am," Kara smirked, landing once more. "So please, take it from me before you're accidentally killed taking on a criminal: Join Team Arrow."

"Okay… I'll… I'll think about, all right?" Evelyn stated, a little resigned.

"That's the best I'm going to get," Kara smiled despite this answer. "Just find the Green Arrow and say so. You might need to convince his partners more than him though…"

"Convince? I thought they wanted me?" Evelyn was slightly taken aback now.

"They don't know they want you yet, let's just say that. And there's an age thing 'cos you're eighteen… look, they need you even if they don't know it. You have someone in the team already on your side, who isn't me, so yeah, trust her," Kara slightly ranted.

"Oh… kay… then…" Evelyn stated, a little taken aback.

-PowerFlash-

"Steven Perry? Are you sure?" Oliver asked Felicity. It was the afternoon now, and Felicity had found Lady Shiva's next mark. She couldn't explain how, but everything she had worked on had led him to be the next target. He had to be.

"I'll suit up. Let Kara and Barry know," Oliver stated.

"I'm coming too," Diggle spoke up. "She took be my surprise last night, but tonight I'm ready."

"Okay Spartan," Oliver nodded as Felicity moved over to the coms to alert Power Girl and The Flash.

"He'll either be at his place of work, Kord Industries – huh, I used to work there – or at his home in the North District," Felicity informed Oliver.

"Send Barry and Kara to the North District, Spartan and I will take Kord," Oliver instructed.

"Whatever you say," Felicity mock saluted as The Green Arrow and Spartan left the HQ.

They arrived at Kord Industries barely five minutes later, landing on the roof thanks to Oliver's abseiling arrows and looked around. There was no sign of Lady Shiva from where they stood, but she could just have easily been inside the building, so they wasted no time in breaking into the stairwell.

"Kara and Barry have nothing, she must be with you," Felicity stated in Olly's ear.

"Which floor does Perry work on?" Oliver countered.

"Tenth. Power Girl, Dog and The Flash are en route to your position," Felicity supplied.

"Keep them back for the moment. We need a cavalry as Lady Shiva's proved herself a worthy opponent before," Diggle added.

"Worthy opponent?" Felicity countered, "Are you in a computer game?"

"Overwatch…" Oliver responded wearily, warning Felicity with her nickname to remain quiet.

They found Lady Shiva long before they found Steven Perry – she too had chosen to lurk in the stairwell and when she caught sight of the Green Arrow and Spartan heading her way, she legged it. Heading downward, leaping over rails and further down as easily as Olly could.

"STOP!" The Green Arrow shouted, and something came whizzing past his ear, then a chunk of the wall behind himself and Spartan exploded.

There was another crash of sound and Lady Shiva had vanished, a hole in the wall indicating something had come flying through and claimed the hitwoman. Oliver wasted no time in finding the floor that Power Girl, Power Dog and Lady Shiva were on, finding employees of Kord Industries cowering at the battle suddenly taking place.

It seemed Lady Shiva had done her research on Power Girl since their confrontation last night as she seemed to dodge, and duck, the alien's punches, breaths, and laser vision – which itself seemed to be amazing to Oliver, who'd never really seen Kara in action. He almost wanted to sit this one out and let her get on with it, but knew there were priorities. With Lady Shiva distracted, Oliver and Diggle took the opportunity to evacuate the employees of Kord, instructing all to head to the stairs – he barely saw the flash of light and whipping up of air as The Flash finally joined the fray.

Something silver came flying Oliver's way, just as he turned and dodged it – a throwing star – which embedded itself in the wall, unleashing similar ropes that had Kara and Barry trapped the previous night; they dangling casually now though as there was no one to encase. Barry stopped in front of Oliver, both staring at the star in the wall, nodding as they realised what they needed to do.

As Power Dog embedded her teeth in Lady Shiva's leg now, Barry began to encircle the hitwoman, Kara taking a step back as Lady Shiva tried to strike Barry as he encircled her. That was when she threw another throwing star, which Oliver, bow and arrow suddenly still in hand, knocked off-course, rebounding it from his arrowhead straight back at the woman, who wasn't expecting to be overthrown so easily.

She cried out as thick metallic ropes bound their way around her torso, Barry coming to a stop and Powie returning to her mistress' side; Lady Shiva still struggled against her bonds as she toppled over, kicking out.

"You're outnumber and overpowered, Lady, I think it's time to give in… not that you have much of a choice." Oliver now growled at her, as she glowered up at him.

"Hey, her arm's healed… the one Power Dog bit last night!" Kara suddenly realised, now that the hitwoman was easily able to be seen.

"Probably some sort of Lazarus Pit, magical healing-deal," Oliver muttered, distracted now as he turned to Diggle, giving him a nod. Diggle was going to contact his wife, to get ARGUS in on this and detain this killer-for-hire.

"Magic?" Kara asked, a little taken aback now as Olly looked to her and smirked to himself now.

"You're an alien with superpowers and magic surprises you?" he asked.

"At least there's a science behind my powers," Kara smirked back.

Oliver shook his head as he turned his attention back to Lady Shiva, who seemed to be remaining quiet now. "Who hired you?" he asked, leaning down so he got closer at her. "We know why you were hired, now I want to know who hired you!" she remained quiet, scowling up at the Green Arrow. "Who hired you?!" Oliver tried again, but to no avail. He punched her, irritated. and she lost consciousness.

"Overkill much?" Barry now asked as Oliver stood, shaking himself.

-PowerFlash-

Back in Arrow HQ, Kara, Barry and Powie stood back, watching Oliver pace the floor as Felicity sighed to herself. Thea had long-since gone back to her day job, so Barry and Kara had decided to re-visit the office once more before they left, but knew their departure was impending.

"Shiva's still not talking, Olly," Felicity commented.

"We need to know who hired her. Someone obviously knows about my father's list, knows I've long-since abandoned the cause and taken it upon themselves to continue my work," Olly muttered, agitated.

"You can't blame yourself…" Kara started.

"Oh, trust me, he is," Felicity sighed.

"Oh," Kara was a little lost for words. "On the plus side, I don't think you, Thea and Diggle will be doing this alone anymore," Kara now added as Oliver stopped his pacing.

"What did you do…?" Olly now asked as he looked at the Central City superheroes.

"They spoke to Evelyn Sharpe and Rory Regan for us," Felicity now spoke up as Olly groaned, looking over to her now.

"I said –" he started.

"You have nothing against Ragman, since he was in the team before he found out about… you know," Felicity started, "and it's Thea and Diggle who have the problem with Evelyn."

"The girl who stole Laurel's Black Canary outfit and collar, masqueraded as the Black Canary for a week and almost befouled the Canary name entirely?" Oliver rounded on the tech woman now, who pulled a face but didn't back down.

"She has potential. Plus, she's still hitting the streets. You don't want another Wild Dog incident," Felicity stood her ground.

"Wild Dog…?" Oliver tried to backtrack.

"Rene Ramirez! The guy you hospitalized last week because you didn't want anyone on your turf, well guess what Oliver: there are people on your turf already, about to be killed unless you help train them!" Kara had to be admit, she was impressed at Felicity's ability to stand up for herself, although the fight wasn't entertaining on its own.

Oliver didn't seem to know how to respond to his ex though, so instead turned to the superhero trio, Kara actually backing up in her chair as Barry stood his ground. "You two went to recruit new people to my team without asking me first?!" Powie growled at this, protecting her mistress and master from the sudden accusatory shouting.

"Don't bring them into it – they were only acting on my request," Felicity responded, actually grabbing Oliver's arm now to bring his attention back to her. "We need new people Olly," her voice suddenly changed from defensive anger to subtle reasoning. "If we get another Lady Shiva… even Barry and Kara weren't prepared for her. Yes, we lost Laurel, yes Roy left us, but that doesn't mean we should close our doors to new people. I asked Barry to talk to Rory – to Ragman – to bring him back and when he's ready I'll apologise to him, we can move on from my mistake to make Team Arrow better."

Oliver seemed to deflate at this, the fire suddenly gone as he sighed.

"And when he's out of hospital and ready to take to the streets again, as he inevitably will be, _you_ will go to Rene Ramirez and bring him into the team too," Felicity continued, imploringly, "because I will _not_ have another death on my consciousness that we could have easily prevented."

"Well said," Barry stated, although lowly in case he shouldn't have, but Oliver smirked and chuckled now.

"I should really open up more sometimes," Oliver now sighed as he turned to look at Barry, Kara and Powie now – the animal still taking a defensive position in front of her mistress, although no longer growling. "Thank you. All three of you. I would give Powie a stroke, but…" he indicated the protective stance the dog was in, and Kara chuckled herself.

"Next time," she stated, standing suddenly.

" _Until_ next time," Barry corrected, moving forward as he outstretched his hand for Oliver to shake.

"It was nice meeting you," Kara now added, doing the same for Felicity, knowing it was time to leave now. "We'll keep you updated on if Lady Shiva reveals anything, considering some of ARGUS now has residence in STAR Labs," she added.

"Diggle _is_ Lyla's wife though," Oliver now pointed out, shaking Kara's hand now before turning back to Barry. "And speaking of STAR… your sudden lack of employment –"

"Oliver…" Barry now moaned in warning, hoping Olly wouldn't address this.

"No, listen. Being the Mayor may not have much comparison on a superficial level, but having your face out there, being the face of an organisation – whether it's a lab or city – it surprisingly helps with the double-life thing. You prioritise better. Just, trust me. Open the Labs… although you may want Cisco to redesign the place to keep the Cortex and ARGUS's area out of general reach."

"I like you're thinking!" Kara nodded at Oliver, deciding not to mention that that was exactly what the other world did with their STAR. This brought Kara's mind full-circle on visiting the other Kara, but she wouldn't say anything, not in front of Oliver or Felicity. Barry didn't respond, though – he was conflicted, but he didn't want to verbalise this at the moment; instead he gave Felicity a curt nod and headed to the elevator, turning back to wait for Kara.

"Nice headquarters you have here by the way. Very nice," Kara added with a smirk to Felicity now, as she joined Barry by the open elevator, the doors now open and Powie at her heel.

As the door closed on the three, Felicity turned to Oliver. "Does being Mayor really help you keep up being the Green Arrow?" she asked sceptically.

"Barry needed a push," Oliver shrugged. "Whether that's a bend of the truth or not." He smirked.

* * *

Post Chapter Rant: Yes, it's a rant. There's a lot to say and having different notes wouldn't work for that. So firstly, I want to admit to something…

I am not a writer. Well, I am obviously or else I wouldn't have 19 chapters of Power Girl and various prequels behind me, but I mean I'm not a _natural_ writer. I love writing, don't get me wrong and once considered a career in it (but real life proved this more of a teenager's dream at the time), but I'm not someone who can just sit down and write up a 5,000-10,000-word story every other day. That's what my beta's like and I'm totally jealous of her for this. I have a process though; I need to plan, to think, to dedicate time, to write, but life does get in the way – it's why it took this chapter so long to turn up.

That all said, I must go back on a promise and I hate myself for admitting it. I said I'd have the last three chapters done before I post up and that hasn't happened. It took me a _lot_ longer to write this chapter than originally thought (plus I beta my Beta's stories and some of those are long ones and take me time to go through anyway) and so I only have this one currently done and ready and didn't want you guys waiting another month for the finale to finally be done. Yes, the finale is one big chapter I'm splitting in two, but that's going to take me time to write also. I'm no CharmedMilliE or Speedforce.

So yes, the finale (titles yet to come) will happen, but probably not until the Christmas/New Year gap (and thus why there's no spoiler/teaser at the end of this episode), but it will be a doozy and fun. All I'm saying is that questions will be answered; not only how the new/same timeline has affected Rip and our Legends, but also the other characters I brought in to this story and how they're stories are so far being played out. It's a finale, a conclusion, and while there will be a second (shorter!) season of Power Girl, it needs to act as a possible end-all like a lot of TV shows do… with the traditional cliff-hanger Flash and Supergirl tend to do.

Oh, and finally, I need to address an issue that was going to be a cliff-hanger but can't be now due to timelines: Powie! As some of you who read my Beta's popular Karry Universe story know, she and Krypto officially met and, well, she's pregnant! That story of CharmedMilliE's ( _Chapter 65 – Together Again_ ) is actually set obviously AFTER this one (I made sure to put Kara's thoughts and feelings leading up to her jumping to Karry Universe again), but BEFORE my finale, so it will be addressed in that two-part story.

 **Now, the Crossovers!** I need to address my thought before I close off this big ol' rant. On a whole I was disappointed by the crossovers – it was advertised as Heroes V Aliens and what we got was Heroes V Heroes, Heroes Hallucinating and THEN Heroes V Aliens; that is to say, the _Legends_ episode was the best for me by far. Individually though I did love them all.

Now, I don't credit _Supergirl_ as part of the crossover, personally, but I loved it as per usual – Eliza knowing Alex is gay, Maggie accepting Alex, Lena betraying her mom and the Monara kiss! Yes, it's Monara, not 'Karamel' as fans seem to be leaning toward – I mean what even _is_ Karamel? Mel isn't Mon's name, and don't even TRY to put Kara first when James/Kara became Jara anyway! It's Monara, people. MONARA!

Moving on… _Flash_ was a highlight, but fell down points for me with Cisco deciding he no longer liked Barry… again. It was great having everyone on-screen though regardless, and to finally hear 60-plus year old's Barry's message. I didn't realise Flashpoint was that important, but it seems Flashpoint is everything now so… I'll accept it. Oh, and the Wests not willing to let Wally train? It was one thing when he didn't have powers but now... really? Come on Joe and Iris. Enough is enough.

 _Arrow_ would have worked better as a solo episode, I think. Maybe Team Arrow (with added Sara somehow cos she needed to say goodbye to her sister!) get gassed by a hallucinogenic drug which came up with the Dominator joint-fantasy to help celebrate and reflect on the 100 episodes? That would have worked better, allow the crossover its own thing, because what we got was The CW using the crossover to boost rating for the 100th episode while attempting to tie it into the whole plot. Don't get me wrong, I loved the episode on its own, with Moira and Laurel a personal highlight (I'm still not over Mumma Queen's death 3 seasons on), but it just didn't work as part of the crossover to me.

Finally, _Legends of Tomorrow_! The best of the three main events. It had what I wanted, what they'd advertised, although rushed through the plot as the other two shows had to establish things. I love Mick. Let me just say that now. Well, Mick and Amaya/Vixen. They were amazing. The fight, Cisco finally understanding what an idiot he was bring, Barry casually placing Stein's devices on the Dominators… Supergirl in general! Oh, and how can I miss out Stein's daughter? While I admire his original plan to erase her from existence, given that's what his career now is, I'm glad he decided against it. I can hardly see any of his team mates (apart from maybe Mick) disagreeing with this final decision as, let's face it, she's family now.

So, weakest episode? Arrow.

Strongest episode? Legends.

Rant officially over.

Sigma OUT!


	20. An Orchestrated Twofold Attack

A few notes before the chapter starts; we end on a cliff-hanger, so I don't want to take away from that.

Note 1: I apologise, again, for the lack of updating. I won't go into detail, but I promise you that this chapter and the finale will not be delayed any further. Scout's honour.

Note 2: What I originally planned on doing with my finale was update to on Monday and then again on Friday – I will not be doing this now. As I want to give you the best finale I can muster, and allow my Beta time to edit it without stress, I shall be posting the next and last chapter this time next week, which coincidentally happens to be the day Supergirl comes back to our screens, so it works nicely like that, I think.

Note 3: Millie and myself now have our own Facebook page for our multiverse! It's called ' **Fanfiction Millma Verse Page** ' for anyone interested and it will be our base of operation for updating you on all Karry Universe / Power Girl information, including spin-offs and other stories. Incidentally, I shall be using this medium to tease you all the first page (by Microsoft Word standards) of the final chapter of this story on Friday (as will Millie tease her stories as and when). So, if you need any more reason to go there and like us, I don't know what else to say!

Note 4: This chapter starts off immediately after Karry Universe's 'Together Again' (chapter 65) where my Kara goes to Kara Allen to seek special advice. For those reading Karry Universe, this is very much in the past, but timelines will smoothen out once this story is over. Please also remember that Flashpoint hasn't happened in this story; it's an alternative timeline that skewered off at the end of season 2 of The Flash.

Dedication: I think there aren't two people more than deserving of this dedication. Silver-Infinite and Brittana4ever, for being the most (im)patient fans of this series as I ever expected. You two are pretty damn awesome though! Right. On with the show… the beginning of the end…

Episode Twenty – An Orchestrated Twofold Attack.

An eerie blue glow filled the empty Cortex as an unearthly wind whipped papers off the desk and sent a chair skidding. A rip in the fabric of space opened and amid the glowing portal, three figures stepped out. Kara, Powie and Cisco.

As they landed, Kara let off a sigh of relief, glad to be back on her home Earth. She still wasn't quite used to travelling via Vibe vortex, but she was getting better at it; plus, with the communications system not totally in place yet on the world of her choice, she had to see her parallel face-to-face. The trip had been worthwhile and fun though. Facing against the White Martians and working with the Justice League had been experience, but she had also gotten what she wanted as well.

It had got bad, her breaking Barry every time they'd been close, but now... now she knew better. She knew how to be close to Barry and not injure him. Her Karry counterpart had told her how to in a very awkward but necessary conversation. And it was good for Powie too, she suddenly thought, bending down to scratch her dog behind the ears; she had got on really well with Krypto, even fighting beside him at a time of need, although what the dogs had been doing in Kara Allen's unfinished nursery was anyone's guess.

"No one's here," Cisco spoke up, a little despondently and calling Kara's attention as he moved to the computer. He had to finish the fine-tuning with the communications system directed at the Karry Universe. Kara knew he also wanted to connect them to the other Earths they had linked to their one since – like one universe-defying Skype or FaceTime. Actually they still had to get it up and running properly as so far phone calls and emails were the most Cisco had worked out.

"You'd think they would be here," Kara responded after a moment, a little worried now as she patted her dog on the head. They had been gone longer than she'd hoped - a few hours had turned into a day and she hadn't even told Barry of her plans. She'd hoped he wouldn't notice a short absent while he was packing up his CCPD lab, assuming she'd been called out by Cat or similar, but a whole day and no-one in the labs? It was slightly concerning.

"We'll worry about them later," Cisco sighed now, looking absently at his computer now as he thumbed through information he had received earlier from the Karry Earth's Caitlin. "I need to send Caitlin the information we have on Velocity."

"And why would you need to do that?" They heard a voice and Kara turned around to see Caitlin framed in the entrance, along with Barry, Ray, Jesse, Martin, and Jax.

"More importantly… Where were you?" Barry asked, moving forward to Kara, concern in his face as Kara bit her lip and Powie whined apologetically.

"I know where they were," Jesse chimed in playfully now; Kara glaring over to her sister on this announcement, confused on how she could say she knew where they were with such certainty. "The Karry Universe." Kara and Cisco looked at each other, wondering what was coming next and how exactly Jesse had guessed that correctly. "It's the only Earth that gives pictures before you leave," Jesse pointed out the envelope in Kara's hand. She'd forgotten she was even holding it.

"Why did you go to Karry Universe?" Barry asked, a little disheartened, eyeing Cisco and obviously wondering why he'd been left out in the adventure, but Cisco not. To be fair, Cisco was needed to go to Karry Universe because he was the only one able to open a portal there, but Barry was still confused on why he'd been left out as he was never left out of world hopping before.

Cisco's eyes widened as he raised his hands in defence. "Whoa, okay, I'm so not getting involved on that one. Ask your girlfriend," he turned defiantly back to the computer, leaving Kara scowling back now. "Caitlin, they need everything you have on Velocity. Where was it in the computer?" Cisco suddenly addressed his friend, acting as if he hadn't dropped a bombshell.

"Don't tell me their Barry was stupid enough to get involved in that?" Caitlin sighed, moving over to Cisco by the computer as she glanced to the group momentarily and shrugged.

"No… but their Jesse was," Cisco said with a sigh himself, looking over to Jesse now, who glanced to them at her name being mentioned.

"They found me?" Jesse asked. She was glad to hear Karry's Kara had listened to her advice when she and Wally had stumbled upon their universe, but if her fate was to use Velocity, maybe it had been bad advice instead. Despite not being around back then, she had been let in about Velocity, and had researched and seen the effects of the stuff since. "Oh… Velocity," she added with a sigh.

"Send them our Jesse's DNA too. It might help," Caitlin instructed, seeing the communications system online to Earth 5, instantly getting on board with helping the other world. "When Jay… I mean Hunter, was dying of cellular decay I looked into replicating his living tissue through his this-world duplicate. Obviously didn't work out..."

"She's pregnant?" Barry meanwhile had taken the pictures from Kara and was looking at the images of his Kara, almost unrecognizable as Kara Wells, in hair extensions and the Supergirl outfit, and Kara Allen, pregnancy belly fully exposed. He had to admit, it was weird seeing his Kara in that outfit, but it also looked kind of cute on her. He really wished he had seen this in person. "Why didn't you let me come with you?" He now looked up at Kara again.

"Um…" Kara paused, unsure how to tell Barry exactly why she went there. Or at least in present company. She hardly wanted to reveal in front of Professor Stein and Jax that she went seeking sex tips, after all. "I'll tell you later, honey. But, hey, can we go see the Karry baby when it's born?" Barry nodded at this, still looking a little despondent but smiled in spite of himself.

"Well, now that's all been sorted, Jax and myself are heading to ARGUS's training room - we booked it off for the day with Miss. Danvers' permission, of course," Stein rambled, barely getting the attention of more than Powie, who just liked the sound of the Professor's smooth voice. "Please don't be alarmed if you see Mick Rory in the premises though."

"Heat Wave?!" This caught Barry, Cisco and Caitlin's attention.

"A long-awaited Legends reunion..." Martin stated as he looked to Ray. "Mr. Palmer...?"

"Yes, coming," Ray nodded, glanced awkwardly to a concerned Caitlin, and then followed Firestorm from the Cortex.

Half an hour later, Ray, Martin, Sara Lance, Mick Rory, and Jax sat in awkward silence in the training room. Stein checked his watch as Rory rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time, and a tall, strapping man with droopy hair and casual attire entered the room.

"Professor Stein!" the man called upon seeing Martin, who stood and indicated a seat.

"Mr. Heywood, I'm glad you could join us... finally," Stein nevertheless smiled as Mick groaned.

"Are you going to tells us why we're here or should I expect that Hunter idiot to turn up next?" Mick snapped.

"Yeah, Gray. It's hard for you to keep things from me, but even I've been having trouble trying to find out what you've been planning," Jax spoke up.

"The boy speaks truths," Mick added. "If this is a time-traveller's reunion, why aren't the Hawks here and that douche is?" Mick indicated the new arrival, who should have looked lost at these references but didn't. Sara quietly kept her eye on him.

"The Hawks left," Ray pointed out, "just before Rip abandoned us, so I think they're discredited, Mick."

"Indeed," Martin spoke up as Mick rolled his eyes at Ray and muttered the word 'haircut' to himself. "No, the reason I have gathered you all here is for closure. Rip indeed abandoned us with Rex Tyler and, while some of us were easily able to go back to our old lives," he glanced at Mick and even Sara at this, "we all needed answers and now I have them. I think it only fair to share those with yourselves."

"Still doesn't explain why Bowtie is here," Mick growled defensively.

"I'm not even wearing..." Heywood started, reaching for his bare collar to double-check if he was wearing a bowtie or not.

"Mr. Heywood is a deductive historical reconstructionist I hired to find out what happened to our friend in time," Martin introduced.

"A what?" Sara spoke up so Mick didn't have to.

"I, err, specialized in history," Heywood explained, "I can trace people and cultures from official and unofficial records, creating an unbiased and informative recorded history. I'm sort of like a detective, but my subjects aren't exactly alive anymore. Oh, and you can call me Nate; easier than 'Mr. Heywood'."

"Yes, well... Perhaps you'll like to explain what you found out?" Stein asked Nate as eyes remained on the historian.

"Erm, yeah," he grabbed his briefcase and opened it on his lap. "Well, when Professor Stein here told me your stories I just had to look up what you'd done... You met Jonah Hex! That's impressive!" He pulled out and old, protected newspaper clipping showing the familiar disfigured face of Hex and, behind him, just noticeable, was Ray's own face. "Anyway, Martin mentioned Rex Tyler," he put the clipping away as he continued, "and I happened to specialize in that man and his team. He was the leader of the Justice Society of America!" He paused as if expecting some sort of reaction to this reveal; there was none.

"Not to be a buzz-kill, but Rex told us that. Right before he and Rip abandoned us all," Jax pointed out. "And I never even heard of them." There was a mumble of agreement from the rest of the group who also had not heard of this Justice Society before.

"Oh. Yeah. Right," Nate looked disappointed, but continued. "It seemed your Rip Hunter left you for good reason. I discovered Rip in 1942, right in the heart of World War Two, with the JSA at his side. Records are practically non-existent on why he was there, but that didn't stop me." He produced more paper and an image of a blond man in a black suit caught Sara's eye as she snatched it from Nate's grip.

"Damien Darkh!" Sara spat at the image. "Laurel's killer..."

"The one and same," Nate replied, looking cautiously at Sara now. "Even if he hasn't aged in over 70 years."

"What was Darkh doing in 1940s New York?" Ray now asked, having caught sight of the familiar surroundings on the image Sara had claimed.

"Building an atomic bomb to change the course of history in his favor... Not that he knew the outcome of the war at that point, but men like Darkh have thrived on wins from radicles like the Nazis. Had he nuked New York, America would have been forced to pull out of the war, meaning an ally defeat would have been assured," Nate informed them.

"But it didn't happen though," Jax pointed out. "There's no atomic crater in New York and none of us are talking German."

"Rip saved New York," Stein summarized, looking pleased at the information as Sara now glowered at him. "But there's more, correct, Nate?"

"Yeah," Nate agreed. "After that, the JSA lost two members - Rex Tyler and his wife, Amaya Jiwe. They left with your Rip friend and their adventures across history have become, shall I say, colorful..." More paperwork, images of Rex and a pretty dark-skinned woman were presented to the gang. "They gained more members too," Nate mentioned quickly, to the looks he was getting as others joined Rip, Rex and Amaya in images; characters of varying genders, colors and fashion. It was difficult to tell if any had powers though.

"So he left us to get a new team?" Mick groaned. "I would feel insulted if I didn't hate Hunter instead," he had never had the chance to confront Rip regarding Snart's demise and now he never would, it seemed.

"There is one more thing..." Martin added, giving Nate a look, who nodded. Stein produced a piece of paper this time, handwriting clearly on it as he showed it to the group. "A letter," he explained, "from Rip, to us all."

"Don't leave us waiting, Gray," Jax immediately responded. Stein smiled. Ray, Sara and Mick looked impassive, waiting.

"'My dear Legends,'" he started, "'I'll keep this short as I have left this off for far too long and Gideon tells me the repercussions for leaving you all would put my own life in danger should I return. I want you to know how much I regret leaving how I did after all we had stopped Savage; I abandoned Miranda and Jonas to death and I feel I'm doing the same for you, and I apologize. Know that it was not my intention but taking certain members to where I was being lead would have resulted in a catastrophic change in the timeline, bigger than the anomaly I was already being faced with. Leaving you, however, meant that time was already flowing for you once more, and destinies were being written and I couldn't interfere with something like that, as you are all too aware. Know also, that even though I had another team after which I'm sure you've all figured out by now, I always thought to you five; Martin, Jefferson, Sara, Raymond and Mick. I am happy now though. I have met someone special in my travels and have since disbanded my latter team of Legends. I know each of you have bright futures. I can't tell you what's in store for you all, but trust me it's something bigger and better than any destiny you had before you joined me. Time changed and I believe for the better for all of you. You will find your places, your destinies soon if you haven't already by the time you read this, and I hope you think of lost, lonely Rip when you reach your goals. I will always be thinking of you - Rip Hunter.'"

There was a pause as Martin wiped at his eye and looked at his gathered gang. "Well..."

"He abandoned us and asked for forgiveness through a letter? That's like breaking up with your partner through a text," Mick groaned, surprising the others of this type of pop culture knowledge.

"Nevertheless I think we can now move on to pastures new, don't you all agree?" Martin stated hopefully. "We may not have the Waverider, Gideon or Rip Hunter, but we're still the original Team Legends!"

"Not me, Prof.," Mick stood up. "In case you haven't forgotten, I only came along because Snart did and now he's gone, I don't need to force myself to be nice to you losers. Besides, I've got Glider waiting for me in Quad City -"

"Glider? As in Golden Glider?" Nate couldn't help but ask. "Captain Cold's sister?"

"You've done your homework well, pretty boy," Mick growled. "She's my partner now. Not the same as Snart but still," He didn't even glace back as he slouched out of the circle and toward the exit.

"Well I didn't really expect Mick..." Martin began.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I can't either," Sara now stood, more sympathetic than Mick. "Like you said earlier, we needed to move on and I did. Rip's letter is right, we do have destinies, but mine isn't in Team Legends anymore... or Central City. Thanks though, it was nice to get some closure." She nodded at Ray, Jax and Martin, glanced to Nate and then excused herself politely.

"For the record, I'm cool with bringing back Team Legends for the present," Ray stated cheerfully. "I'm not keen on returning to Starling anyway, beyond the occasional check up on Palmer Tech, and Team Power-Flash is a bit large these days for Atom..."

"Well I know you want to stay," Jax now cut in, addressing Martin directly now, "so it looks like I'm in, but two members...?" He indicated themselves and Ray, "that ain't going to cut much."

"Urm, do you need computer guy?" Nate spoke up. "Because I'm legit..."

"Do you have a code name?" Ray asked, cocking his head to Nate.

"Code name?" Nate asked in confusion.

"You know, a name that you can go by on the field. Like I said, I'm Atom, Jefferson and Martin are –"

"– Firestorm, I know," Nate cut off Ray in thought. "You know, my grandpa fought in the Second World War as part of the Justice Society. They called him Captain Steel. He's kind of my hero…"

"Steel, huh?" Ray asked with a smirk. "We can work with that."

-PowerFlash-

A few weeks later the new Legends had established themselves in parallel to Team Power-Flash and the city had seemed to have remained quiet. Meta-human attacks such as with Mirror Master and a surprise return of the Trickster were easily handled by Joe's meta-human taskforce, or Quick or Silver when necessary; that was until Parasite. The purple-skinned demon of a possible meta-human attacked without question and STAR Labs had to work quickly with ARGUS to find a way of stopping him.

They'd set up a trap in the wastelands, a way that they hoped to contain him and stop him draining the energy of others. Kara was busy at CatCo., while Barry was out of town but Quick and Silver thought they had it, they were the leads these days in stopping metas now after all; Power Girl and The Flash had taken a bit of a back seat to their adopted siblings, but there was something about Parasite which didn't add up. One that ARGUS and STAR were working together on figuring out.

Jesse sped ahead of Wally, Parasite slow but capable of following them – they had to stop the thing before he did any more damage.

"Get him to the trap," Alex spoke into both of their ears, "don't let him touch you!"

"We're perfectly aware of that," Wally chimed back before Jesse could speak. "The several dead in the hospital because of him –" Jesse looked back as Wally was cut off and almost stopped in her tracks.

"WALLY!" She screamed as Wally burst with electricity, the man holding him by the throat as Silver shuddered violently. Quick didn't want to get too near as she circled back; she knew what Parasite could do, but they hadn't seen him attack an actual meta-human before. She hoped Wally wasn't dead.

"Jesse, the plan still stays," Alex spoke in her ear, Jesse's hands balled into fists as Parasite dropped Wally's limp form and turned to face the female speedster. "Get him to the wastelands, ARGUS will deal with this."

"What about Wally?" Jesse asked as Parasite began to move, a wide grin on his purple face.

"We'll get him back to base, now GO!" Alex shouted, and Jesse wasted no time in turning on her heel and running, knowing the power-draining meta was behind her, her mind racing on ways on how she could defeat Parasite without ARGUS getting involved. If Wally was dead… she didn't know what she'd do.

She barely saw where she was going when she stopped in the wasteland, Parasite's trap not far off as she spun, grabbed her lightning trail and threw it.

Parasite stopped in sudden shock, he having used the speed drained from Wally to keep on Quick's heels, but it wasn't going to work as his eyes suddenly flashed with the same speed-force light and he sped up to Jesse, grabbed her before she could react and everything went back.

"Quick is down!" An agent shouted into his coms back to base, seeing Parasite not far off dropping Jesse's form. "Parasite isn't close enough, we can't activate the trap."

"We're sending out Power Girl. She's the only one who can stop that thing now," Alex responded as Parasite ran off, speeding back into the city.

-PowerFlash-

"Karen!" Kara jumped. Despite her superior hearing and super-senses, she hadn't noticed Cat leave her office, or even stand right behind her assistant, so into her research as she was. "What are you doing?" Cat now inquired as Kara turned on her chair to her boss.

"Sorry, Ms. Grant but my dog, er, she's been…" Kara started as Cat peered over Kara's shoulder to look at the screen.

"'Different behaviour in animals, specifically golden retrievers…'" Cat quoted. "You know, I used to own a Chihuahua when I was younger… what sex is your dog?"

"A female," Kara muttered, surprised she was having this conversation with her boss. She shouldn't have been too shocked though – her memories of Alien Earth's Cat Grant proved that her boss was interest in aspects of her Kara's life, so it wasn't totally unusual for this Cat to act the same.

"A bitch, no Clancy was a male. Then again, Adam does own a female Rottweiler – not that I see him or the dog that much," Cat ranted thoughtfully. "What's the exact change in your dog's behaviour, Karen?"

"Oh, she's been on the defensive for a few days now. Completely over-protective of myself and my sister and won't let anyone else near her at the moment," Kara sighed, wondering what had gotten in to Powie as she spoke. She didn't tell Cat about her dog frying the couch last night; laser vision wasn't exactly part of a normal dog's genetics.

"Has she been near any male dogs lately?" Cat asked thoughtfully, Kara ignorant for the reason behind this question.

"Well she and my friend's male dog did meet recently for the first time," Kara said tentatively. "You think Krypto did something to her?"

"Hmm, nothing she didn't want I am sure. And Krypto? Unusual name… Sounds like she might be feeling very protective of herself though, in that case," Cat stated with a sly smirk. "I would suggest you get her to a vet as soon as possible – this shouldn't be a long faze for your bitch, but she may need to have regular check-ups for the next few weeks… A mother always knows after all."

"I'm sorry?" Kara didn't quite understand what Cat was getting at, but she did remember Jesse mentioning minoring in Veterinary practises back on Earth-2. Perhaps it was worth taking Powie more seriously…?

"Don't be. Now, there's a report Eileen was meant to dig out for me on the records, but she called in sick today so I'll have to ask you to find it for me. It was a report on the meta-human case from several weeks prior. That Quick and Silver superheroes took down Mirror Master skilfully but I need to look over what she wrote – I've had a complaint about it."

"A complaint?" Kara asked, surprised by this.

"Yes. It happens sometimes. An old colleague of mine, but not your concern. Media is a hard mistress after all. And Karen, please leave the personal research to outside of office hours. You're in a place of work after all, so you shouldn't be doing private research on this time." She didn't sound harsh, but Kara was already feeling guilty.

"Of course. Sorry, Ms. Grant," Kara nodded as Cat moved back to her office.

It was then that her phone binged and she knew the reason before she even looked at her cell. Glancing back at Cat's office, she was glad to see her boss already in a telephone conversation so moved from the office floor and to the ladies' bathroom. Finding it thankfully empty, she put the STAR Labs communicator into her ear and flew out of the appropriately-sized window, leaving her civilian clothing behind.

"Fill me in," Power Girl spoke into the coms.

"Quick and Silver have been taken out by Parasite," Alex's voice surprised Kara, but she didn't have the time or thought to ask why she wasn't speaking to Cisco or Caitlin instead.

"Location?" Power Girl responded.

"Close to our trap in the Wastelands," Alex responded, "but ARGUS intel has it that Parasite's went back into the city."

"Flash?" Power Girl asked.

"Already on my way," Barry's voice added to the duo, "just got back… and I have a location. Alex…?"

"On it," Alex responded. "I should have a codename," Alex added thoughtfully.

"Speak to Vibe, he'll have something," Flash replied and she could almost hear the amusement in his voice at this.

"Or kick-ass in the street and Cat Grant will do it for you," Power Girl smirked to herself, "I have eyes on Purple Man."

"Parasite," Alex intoned, "we don't want to go there…"

"Flash, I see you," Power Girl added, "think we can contain this guy?"

"Don't let him touch you. Touch you and you're dead. We're lucky Quick and Silver are only drained," Alex pointed out.

"Okay, no touching," Power Girl confirmed, not even wanting to ask what state her sister was in. She'd worry about that later.

Barry was already circling the larger-than-life purple humanoid; they were near the outskirts of the city, Parasite obviously having heading back in it to cause as much destruction as possible, but the Flash was quicker than his previous speeding opponents, so he wasn't so easily able to grab him, even with Quick and Silver's speed temporarily flowing through him.

Kara wasted no time in using her laser vision, the humanoid screaming at the impact as Barry paused and threw his lightning, joining with the attack.

"We got this," Kara laughed, although she was stopped suddenly when Parasite's own eyes lit up! She only just dodged his laser vision as Barry backed up himself. "Oh… kay. It seems he doesn't need to touch someone to absorb their powers…" Kara added as Barry sped off.

"Wastelands. The trap. Go, Kara!" Alex instructed in her ear, and Kara didn't hesitate to obey, speeding toward the wasteland, Parasite on their tail.

What happened next was both sheer luck and completely catastrophic at the same time. Parasite grabbed Kara. He had been close and she had been flying low, but he's only managed to grab her cape, stopping her in mid-flight as she turned on the spot to try and free herself from his grasp. She sensed, rather than saw, Barry turn on the spot, not slowing as he propelled himself faster, back toward Parasite who wasn't ready for the super-sonic punch that penetrated his sternum, released his grasp on Kara and went crashing back.

"You weren't supposed to kill him, Allen!" Alex cried in both their ears, but both the Flash and Power Girl ignored this as they turned to look at the unconscious Parasite; blood was pouring from the gaping hole in his chest; he was no longer breathing. Barry had, indeed, killed him.

Kara turned to look at Barry, landing at the dead creature's feet, her mouth agape, but Barry had a look of determination and gratitude on his face regardless.

"He almost killed Jesse and Wally," Barry now muttered darkly, "he could have killed you…" he addressed Kara at this, but she didn't take time to think as she rushed at her boyfriend, their lips locking once more as they kissed.

They didn't hear the applause from the gathered public, or the whoops and wolf whistles until they separated and Kara instantly blushed at the gathered crowd. They did have an adoring public.

-PowerFlash-

Ten minutes, and a few photos later, Kara and Barry walked into the Cortex, hand in hand and grins on their faces. Alex hadn't been impressed, but her team had picked up the body of Parasite as soon as they could and were already transporting it to STAR Labs for assessment. Barry hadn't apologised either though, and Kara liked this. While she didn't agree with Barry taking a life, and not his first on record, she did appreciate that he'd done if for her. To save her. She also knew sometimes in this line of work taking a life would be necessary – she didn't look forward to the day when it would be her who had to do that unfortunate job.

"Oh my god," Kara groaned as her eyes instantly fell upon Jesse and Wally, whom she'd resisted x-ray visioning to see before this moment. Harry stood with Caitlin at the entrance to the lab, while Cisco and Alex were in discussion by the computers. Barry released her hand and kissed her cheek softly as he crossed the threshold ahead of her and went to join Cisco and Alex. Harry's eyes lingered on The Flash, but Kara didn't register this as she moved over to Caitlin and Harry.

Then she realised why neither doctor, nor patient's father, were by either bedside – Powie was in front of Jesse's bed, having come in to the Labs with her other mistress earlier. Kara's dog however, was in an attack position, growling at Harry and Caitlin, who were exchanging worried glances.

"Powie!" Kara herself barked, her dog stopped growling at the order, but remained in stance.

"How is it she's attached to you, Barry and Jesse but not anyone else?" Harry asked.

"More importantly, why does she think we'll hurt anyone?" Caitlin asked, her voice quivering as Kara looked over the rather thin-looking Wally and Jesse from her position in the doorway.

"I don't know," Kara waved off the questions as she turned to face Caitlin. "How are they?"

"Alive. Barely. They can thank not being normal humans for that. I managed to get an I.V. drip in Wally and get him stable – now it's just hoping the speed-force will kick in and keep him… getting better. Iris and Joe are on their way –"

"Iris wasn't feeling good this morning," Kara pointed out worriedly, "think it's a good idea to have her around if their immunities are down?"

"She may have to keep her distance. We all may with…" she indicated the stiff dog. "I mean I haven't even managed to get Jesse on a drip or anything; the moment the ARGUS agents brought her in, Powie went nuts."

"Okay," Kara sighed, knowing what Caitlin needed, and knowing Jesse needed care and attention and a Kryptonian dog in the way wasn't the best solution to this. She turned to Powie. "Down girl, this is Caitlin and Harry… they're friends remember?" Powie cocked her head, then wagged her tail at her mistress. "What's gotten in to you girl?" Kara now crouched down to pet her dog, who whined, span on the spot and then dropped into a lying down position.

Kara looked up to Caitlin and nodded, the STAR Labs doctor running into action as Harry moved over by his daughter's side. Kara turned her attention back to her dog. "Ever since we went and saw Krypto and his Kara you've been acting a little… unusual." Powie lifted her head up to Kara, her eyes wide as Kara continued as she remembered her conversation with Cat earlier in the day. "Did Krypto do something to you? Are you missing him? Is another trip to Karry needed…?" Kara Wells sighed, wondering if Krypto had been acting similarly. She knew Kryptonian humanoids had that bond-thing Barry and Kara of Karry had developed – maybe dogs had something similar? Were Powie and Krypto bonded somehow? Maybe they would need to work out schedules that the two could see each other again. Another idea came to Kara though as her mind span out of control. "Or is this PTSD from those White Martians we faced?" Powie whined once more and dropped her head back down. Kara sighed as she properly sat on the floor next to her dog and leaned against the doorway.

"I'm here for you, girl," she now added as she caressed the canine's back lazily, looking up at Caitlin who nodded to Kara that Jesse would be fine. Kara smiled back as Harry kissed his unconscious daughter's head before moving back into the Cortex. "Quite a mess we've got ourselves in," Kara now added to herself as she lolled her head back. She knew she had to get back to work, but it had only been twenty minutes since she left, so she'd stay with Powie for a few more.

"Allen, a word," Harry moved over to Barry, who had been discussing tactics with Alex and Cisco.

"Oh, erm, yeah, what's wrong? Is it Jesse?" Barry asked.

"No, she'll be okay with time. Please follow me. Nothing to worry about," he smiled pleasantly at Alex and Cisco as he moved off back to the rounded corridor. Barry shrugged at his friend, and followed anyway. Walking in line behind Harry, they stopped at the Gideon Room. Harry opened the door and indicated Barry move in in front of him, Barry worried what this could mean, but played along regardless.

He was surprised to find a desk, three chairs and Raymond Palmer waiting within. Ray was playing with the Gideon, talking to her like an old friend but stopped as Barry and Harry moved into the room.

"Later, Gideon," Ray stated as the A.I. shut off and he turned, smiling at Barry. "I didn't know you guys had your own Gideon. I've been missing her since Team Legend left the Waverider…"

"You mentioned a Gideon," Barry responded, a little sharply. He wasn't a fan of the future tech that he was meant to make – it reminded him too much of the Reverse-Flash.

"Not why Barry's here, Palmer," Harry muttered as he took a chair and indicated Barry take the one opposite him. Ray moved over and took the seat next to Harry.

"Is this an interview?" Barry suddenly asked, "Cos you know I own the Labs."

"Yes and no," Harry stated. "We'll get right on to the point: STAR Labs. Yes, you do own it and we want to talk to you about reopening it."

"Wait, what?" Barry did a double take.

"Ever since you first visited that Earth-5 it's been an idea implanted in your head. Don't deny it. It's been growing like a healthy plant of some description and now that you're unemployed, it's the perfect opportunity to finally revitalize this place," Harry stated. Barry was slightly lost for words.

"Barry," Ray leaned forward, finally talking again. "I took Queen Consolidates from a neglectful business and turned it into the successful corporation it is now. True, I did sort of fake my death and leave the place to Felicity, and then she neglected it in favour of being on Team Arrow, but coming back from the dead officially and re-establishing my goals with the place really helped me realise I could do it again, I could help and finance the rebuild of this place."

"I have experience on my Earth," Harry now added before Barry could speak. "I've successfully run Earth-2's STAR Labs for nearly fifteen years, and now that I've handed the reigns on to someone else there I want to help do the same here. Think of the potential, Allen…"

"I urm… I don't know what to say," Barry had been thinking of re-opening STAR for ages, yes, but he honestly didn't know how to start it, or who to involve.

"You need a plan of action," Harry stated, leaning back.

"I suppose so?" Barry tried.

"First would be to oust ARGUS." Harry stated. "I noticed this STAR owns a warehouse in the city, it's got a large space; give Cisco and myself a few weeks to build new meta-human holding cells so we can transport the ones in the pipeline there, then we can allow ARGUS to do with it what they want. They rent space in STAR, so we can easily transfer that to warehouse when ready."

"Then comes the announcement that Palmer Tech is financing STAR's rebuild." Ray continued dramatically, Barry looking to him in silence. "The way it would work would be Palmer Tech will provide the money to rebuild this place and then I get a share. Let's say around 30 or 40 percent," Ray now pointed out. "But beyond that, we'll be a silent partner. Helping you out, providing initial finance to rebuild and staff-hire."

"And when we rebuild, that's when we reassess plans of what to do with what. Your fake Harrison Wells knew what he was doing when he set up the Labs, but there are areas for greater improvement. And then of course, there's the Cortex," Harry pointed out.

"What about it? We can't exactly relocate, it's a great base for Team Power-Flash," Barry pointed out.

"Oh, I know. Which is why we'll temporarily move in with ARGUS while we block off the internal entrance to the Cortex and blow out a wall to add an exterior door."

"Have you been to Karry Universe without me knowing too?" Barry asked, trying to joke in the seriousness of the discussion. On reflection, he was surprised Karry hadn't had their own Harry there to help them rebuild – his Harrison's plan was the same plan they had used after all.

"We also need to move the Gideon Room to somewhere in the Cortex," Harry stated ignoring Barry's comment but smirking to himself.

"Why not get rid of it completely?" Barry asked darkly now.

"Because it's useful," Ray pointed out. "Plus, Gideon informed me Kara uses the technology from time to time to access the hologram of her mother?"

"Valid points," Barry muttered.

"And once we're ready for the grand re-opening, Barry Allen is announced the director and owner," Harry now added.

"Wait, why can't you…?" Barry asked, confused now.

"I may be faking out being my this-Earth twin, but people won't trust any version of Harrison Wells after the Accelerator Explosion, and that wormhole that opened up two years back. No, having fresh-faced Barry Allen be the official head of the place gives it a fresh start. Plus, you do own it. I will be announced as manager of the labs though," Harry pointed out.

"And then you rake in the cash. You can hire on Jesse properly, give Cisco and Caitlin a healthier pay check, hell, even a pay raise the stuff they do for us all, and then you even afford a place of your own, in time," Ray spoke up honestly. "So, what do you think?"

"I… don't know. I've not dealt with business on this scale before," Barry hesitated. "And to make a public announcement?"

"You'll have myself and Mr. Palmer right behind you," Harry spoke up. "And we can talk to Alex and Lyla for you if you want. It won't be an immediate start; with the warehouse, the rebuild and everything it will be a good few months before you'll have to make the announcement, and Kara could help there. She already has some experience with CatCo."

Barry leaned back into his chair, contemplating all this. He hadn't expected to be inundated with such a well-thought plan when Harry had led him here a few minutes before. "Can I think on it?"

"Of course," Harry stated. "Although if you say no, Ray and I could go ahead with this anyway."

"I own the place," Barry smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

"Palmer Tech has a lot of money behind it, we could buy you out," Ray smirked. "But I honestly don't want to do that. It's not how I roll… well, not anymore."

Barry chuckled. "You might find that harder than you think. You don't know what else I have from the fake Wells. Let me talk it through with Caitlin and Cisco though. They've been here since the start and deserve to be let in on it all. Then we'll get back to you with any… amendments we may think up."

"Bring it on," Harry smirked, knowing they had Barry. This was something he had wanted to do for a while after all, and something Harry had wanted too.

-PowerFlash-

Iris had come into the office early, or at least as early as she physically could. She wanted to make up for not coming in the previous day – one that proved more stressful for Kara as she had helped stop Parasite, dealt with a confused Powie and came back into the office only half an hour after she'd left.

Iris wasn't surprised to find Cat already in her office so early when Iris arrived though, but she didn't expect the pretty brunette with her boss and had to do a double-take as the woman looked her way.

"No way… Lois Lane?" Iris muttered in shock as she moved across the floor. "Ms. Grant. I'm sorry about yesterday –"

"Eileen, please welcome Lois Lane, Daily Planet reporter," Cat ignored Iris' apology to go right into the matter at hand. "She's the one I wanted the report for yesterday."

"Mirror Master," Lois spoke up, standing to shake Iris's hand. "A few weeks previously. There was something unusual about that take down. Your resident speedsters had help from a man in green – someone not the Green Arrow."

"Yes, I mentioned that in my article. Not much is known about him though…" Iris stated, going with the flow as Lois sat back down opposite Cat.

"He's been sighted across the US. Helping in fighting crimes and there's only one connection – you," Lois stated.

"Me?" Iris blinked.

"Not you exactly," Cat sighed. "Lois means Central City, Power Girl… All this started happening when Power Girl showed up. Quick and Silver, Maxima, this green hero – everything links to this city and to her. We need an interview, we need to find out who the green person is and how he's connected to everything. Is he a meta-human? Is he an alien? Is he something else entirely…?"

"Oh," Iris didn't know what to say to this. She presumed the green man was the same Green Lantern who had delivered Kara's dog at Christmas, but she hadn't been there and no one had really mentioned him since – apart from he being Kara's this-universe cousin. "How can I help?" Iris asked.

"By having Lois shadow you," Cat responded. "She had an idea, but these meta-humans and Power Girl trust you. Get an interview with Power Girl and The Flash. Then Lois knows what to do."

"Awesome," Iris stated, although with no enthusiasm in her voice. Cat ignored this as she gave her former assistant a cold smile. "Well, if you grab a chair, my desk…" Iris started to Lois.

"Oh, Eileen," Cat added as Lois removed herself from the CatCo boss's office. "We have images from yesterday's battle against Parasite. Karen wrote a preliminary article but we need a full story by the evening press. Work your magic."

"Of course, Ms. Grant," Iris nodded, a little more enthusiastically as she left the room.

"Is it 'Iris' or 'Eileen'?" Lois immediately asked before Iris could even take her seat.

"Iris," Iris responded with a sigh as she grabbed a chair – Lois had already claimed her own.

"Hmm… she used to call me 'Lana' back in the day. But we were rivals even then," she smirked to herself as Iris raised an eyebrow.

"Have you always worked at the Daily Planet?" Iris asked, having follow Lois Lane's career intermittently throughout the past decade.

"Started out as an intern there, moved into sports reporting, then fashion and then the bigger stuff," Lois confirmed. "Married the boss's nephew, had a kid, got a divorce… it's all on my Planet Profile." She smiled politely.

"Reeve White, I remember," Iris smiled, her mind going back six years to when she'd found out Lois Lane had birthed a son.

"Wonderful boy. But enough chit-chat. You have work, Missy," Lois leaned back in the chair, her arms folded, but an amused smile on her face. Iris instantly flustered with paperwork.

-PowerFlash-

Cisco sat back and sighed. Caitlin looked to him with a raised eyebrow. "Bad day at the office?" Caitlin asked.

"Hah, no, it's this Parasite dude… I've been looking at our extensive collection of meta-human data – well, ours and ARGUS's – and I can't find anything relating to him at all," Cisco stated.

"What do you mean?" Caitlin rolled her chair over to him, curious.

"I mean his powers… I don't think they're natural. Well, I mean as natural as all the other meta-humans we've come against," Cisco explained. "No other meta we or ARGUS have faced have had this kind of negative energy. It's just not right and it doesn't make sense."

"No meta's powers make complete sense," Caitlin stated, her eyes lingering on her hands for a moment before snapping back to the topic at hand. "Wait, do you think they're man-made? Like he gave them to himself?" Caitlin theorised.

"Something like that," Cisco muttered darkly. "Could be alien though."

"Kal would have turned up if it was," Caitlin countered. Ever since Christmas, Kal-El had kept returning to Earth, to check up on Kara and to help in any way he could. He'd also told them that should any aliens turn up, he would follow, and since Parasite had attacked and died yesterday and there'd been no sign of the Green Lantern, it proved Parasite was somehow of this world.

"Okay, let's backtrack," Caitlin added, changing topic, "the meta's we know about… well, firstly there are those that came before the Particle Accelerator, right?"

"Like Deathbolt?" Cisco asked, referencing the very first meta-human Team Arrow had come across, whom had been in Opal City the time of the Particle Accelerator explosion and so couldn't have been made by said dark matter explosion.

"Yes," Caitlin nodded, "then of course there are the ones created in the moment of the Accelerator Explosion, namely Barry as a good example," Cisco nodded, "and then there's your type of meta-human…"

"My type?" Cisco raised an eyebrow, dropping the pen he had been chewing.

"Those made after the fact," Caitlin explained. "I like to call them New Age Metas…"

"Woah, hang on, I got my powers because evil fake Wells ripped my heart out in an aborted timeline," Cisco pointed out.

"Actually, that event activated your powers. You got your powers from the explosion like everyone else, but it took something big, an event that changed your path in life to become a meta-human," Caitlin pointed out, "it's why Karry's Cisco isn't a Vibe – he never had that event, and may likely never will have anything similar. Destined to be plain old Cisco Ramone forevermore."

"Perfect Universe," Cisco muttered darkly, but Caitlin rolled her eyes at this.

"I think it's safe to say that everyone was effected by that explosion, one way or another," Caitlin continued, unconsciously rubbing her hands together as she said this.

Cisco frowned at this statement. "Even you?" he asked mind going to Caitlin's counterpart on Earth-2 who had been a meta before her untimely death.

"Probably," Caitlin waved him off a little too quickly as she continued, "but it depends on the person as to whether they actually become a full-on meta-human or not. And then there are the children."

"Kids?" Cisco's ears pricked up. "You're not?"

"Don't be daft, Ramone," she playfully slapped him on the arm as she pulled up a newspaper article on his computer, the title read 'Green Baby Born in Platinum Flats – First Sign of Next Generation Meta-human?' There was a picture accompanying it of indeed, a green-skinned new-born with significantly pointed ears.

"Woah," Cisco muttered as he skim-read the article.

"I dub them Children of the Accelerator," Caitlin spoke up, drawing Cisco's attention her way again, "and little Beast Boy there isn't the only one…"

"Awh, I do the naming – although Beast Boy…" Cisco nodded, impressed as Caitlin rolled her eyes at him once more.

"The constant factor in these Children of the Accelerator is that one, or both, of the parents came from, or were in Central at the time of the explosion, which brings me back on point: Parasite… was he in Central at the time of the explosion?" Caitlin sighed, having said all this in one breath.

"Facial recognitions software had a bit of a meltdown at the skin pigmentation," Cisco pointed out, closing the article for the moment and bringing up the pervious program, it stopped on one face, clearly human at the time. "Raymond Jensen," Cisco sighed, "and no, he was in Pennsylvania at the time of the explosion."

"There you have it then," Caitlin almost cheered.

"There I have what?" Cisco looked to her in confusion.

"He's not a Particle Accelerator meta-human, meaning he's either one by other means like Olly's Deathbolt friend, or…"

"He was made powerful by someone else…" Cisco breathed. "He almost killed Kara. Barry's lightning bolts had no effect on him…" his eyes were suddenly glazing as Caitlin smirked, knowing his mind was joining the dots. She didn't know the answer, but Cisco should, and it would be right – something to do with his Vibe powers helping him there. "Maxwell Lord," Cisco suddenly stated, coming out of his reverie, "he's got the know-how to make tech like Red Tornado… It wouldn't be completely out of his league to give a human power. And he's bound to be super-pissed that his Red Tornado project backfired, and all the copies destroyed in Kara's little nuke-out last year."

"You think it time ARGUS, or Kara, pay him a visit?" Caitlin smirked.

"We don't kick down doors based on intuition," the familiar voice of Alex interrupted Cisco and Caitlin's thoughts as they turned to see her in the doorway.

"But it must be," Cisco suddenly stood, "there's literally no-one else, alive at least, who could make a meta like Parasite. Maxwell Lord is our guy."

"Look, Ramone, I'd like to arrest the man as much as the next person but we need evidence, DNA, witness reports…"

"Then it seems we need to find that evidence," another female voice entered the fray and this time Alex was the one to turn to a new person in the lab.

"Ms. Prince," Alex stated, suddenly standing to attention.

"At ease soldier," Diana Prince smirked, moving into the threshold as she looked at Cisco and then at Caitlin, contemplation on her face. "I hear Maxwell Lord has new friends and tighter security, if we want to incriminate him…"

"But you work for the government," Caitlin now pointed out, "you don't do… that sort of thing."

"I work for the department of meta-human affairs – in fact I _am_ the department of meta-human affairs," Diana spoke to the small group, "and if someone's out there to give this minority of the human populace trouble, I want to help and stop them."

Cisco smirked at this. "Well, like Alex said, we have no confirming proof that he's behind Parasite…"

"Forgive me, Ms. Prince," Caitlin suddenly spoke up, "but why exactly are you here? Parasite was only been active fifteen or so hours ago and you had a meeting literally four hours ago back in DC, and no plane…."

"How did you know that?" Diana snapped at the girl, Caitlin blushing, Diana surprisingly winking back as she subtly changed the topic. "I'm here to talk to Agent Danvers, actually," Diana addressed Caitlin, "final arrangements on a top-secret mission."

"You guys will know about it soon enough though," Alex smiled wryly at the STAR Labs duo who exchanged glances.

"Back to Maxwell though," Alex added, "we have Parasite's body. Even dead it's hard to get in bodily contact without a physical drain, but we'll tear the man apart to find Lord Enterprises technology in his genome if we have to."

-PowerFlash-

That evening Kara was patrolling the city alone. With Jesse and Wally still out, although alive, and Barry having been missing again for several hours along with Harry and Ray – he'd last been seen talking quietly to Cisco and Caitlin a few hours previously before vanishing with Harry afterward – it was up to Kara to watch over the city. Powie wasn't quite ready to don a cape, even after her team up with Krypto the previous month and helping in Starling before that, so was guarding Jesse in STAR Labs instead. She had calmed down a lot since her negativity yesterday toward Caitlin and Harry.

"Kara, we have a ruckus in the city centre. Police are busy with a bank robbery and it's not a confirmed meta-human. Think you can deal?" this time Cisco and Caitlin were back and it was Cisco who was talking to Kara.

"Sure thing, Vibe," Kara smiled, turning direction to head to the city centre.

She saw what was up considerably easily: a man, probably in his late thirties, was holding his own against several thuggish-looking men. It seemed he needed help though, so Kara swooped down, grabbed two of the thugs and deposited them in the next street, much to their surprise.

Turning around, she came back to find two more had been scared off and one lay unconscious. Easy job.

"You okay, sir?" Kara asked the man who had been attacked.

"I'm good thanks. I wonder if you can help me with something else though…?" the man asked, Kara shrugging as she landed on the pavement and moved closer to the man.

"What's the prob–?" she stopped a foot from the man, her legs suddenly weak, and gravity suddenly feeling impossibly heavier on her body.

"You are, actually… Power Girl," the man smirked as he moved closer.

"What…?" Kara tried as the man suddenly ripped open his shirt. She hadn't thought to x-ray him but there was no point now – her x-ray vision didn't seem to be working and she could see the glow in the man's chest easily.

"My employers call it anti-power," the man sneered as he held up a hand and grabbed Kara by the neck. She was feeling so weak now, so vulnerable, "and it's perfectly synthesised to cancel out every one of your powers, Power Girl. Let's not forget there's a little bit of Parasite's abilities in there too."

"Kryptonite…" Kara muttered. It was a different color, or at least the glow beneath the man's chest was, but it undeniably had the same effect; and if Parasite's powers were minimally part of this guy, how could she even start to try and fight back? Her powers were draining quickly.

"After Parasite proved ineffective, it was my turn," he admitted, a wicked grin on his face. This had escalated quickly.

"Your charger, Kara…" Cisco's voice suddenly came loud in her ear. "Yellow sun energy – use it!"

She moved a hand to touch her symbol, but the man batted it away, still easily holding her up by the neck and she could feel the strain – she could barely bring herself to use her other arm as she now rasped: "What are you?"

"Maxi and Xander tried to call me Metallo… but I prefer Power Man. It's more ironic than anything," he sneered.

"Hang on, Kara – we've alerted Barry and the meta-human task-force," Kara could only just hear Caitlin now in her ear. She had to keep Power Man from making a move, at least until he was distracted enough for her to get the hell out of here.

"Maxi and Xander?" Kara tried, oxygen now depleting in her brain from the position he was holding her in. She was barely aware of the spectators too, the catcalls and jeers directed to Power Man; no one was brave enough to come forward and help one of their city's symbols of hope though.

"Lord and Luthor," Power Man confirmed as alarm bells rang in Kara's head now. Xander Luthor… Alexander Luthor…. Lex Luthor! This world's Lex Luthor. The nemesis to her cousin on Alien Earth and possibly other Earths as well. He was involved in this? Why did she never think about him jumping in eventually?

"They're very interested in you," Power Man added. He threw Kara forward, straight into a lamp post, and everything went black.

 _TO BE CONTINUED…_


	21. The New Justice Society of America

Note: This is it, the final chapter. The end… or rather the beginning. It's taken some time to get here (a LOT more than I anticipated), so I hope this finale works on all levels. I won't go on like some writers, so to get you all the action quicker, all I say is thank you. Please review.

Dedication: Simply to you, the reader.

Facebook: Fanfiction Millma Verse Page.

Episode Twenty-One – The New Justice Society of America.

-Three Weeks Earlier-

Kara was leaving the CatCo office; she had been following Quick and Silver's team up with Kal on the news against a rather tricky meta-human. Official reports were going to leave the Green Lantern out of the limelight though, concentrate on the resident speedsters defeat of Mirror Master. Kara was quite pleased about it all though, she didn't want her cousin outed so soon, and Jesse and Wally were doing great as the new faces of Team Power-Flash, even if she was going to don the cape later, to keep up appearances.

She reacted before she even knew what happened, turning and grabbing the hand that was reaching out to hers, twisting it to near-breaking point, but heard no whimper, no shocked gasp. Turning herself now, it was Kara who gasped as she saw the handsome features, the small smirk and the green outfit. Without thinking, she dragged Kal-El into the closest alleyway before anyone noticed what could have been a strange mugging or kidnaping – she was superfast with her Kryptonian powers, after all.

"What are you doing here?" Kara asked, once she'd checked they weren't going to be overheard or seen – x-ray vision and superior hearing had its benefits.

"I just wanted to check in on my new favourite cousin," Kal-El replied simply, "and I happened to get wind of your friends needing help so... I helped."

"That's not… Look, it's nice to see you Kal, really, but you've been seen a lot more since Christmas – and not even in Central; reports from Gotham, Platinum Flats, Detroit and even Metropolis…" she listed off the cities she'd remembered reports of a Green hero that went through CatCo's system.

"I'm just helping out," Kal shrugged, but didn't meet Kara's eyes at this. She folded her arms, knowing she could be imposing on her older cousin; her this-world alternative was leader of the High Council on Krypton, after all. "Okay, fine… the truth is, I'm covering for a pal. Well, not so much covering as…" he sighed, obviously not sure how to explain what was going on. "Alan Scott, he was a Green Lantern like me who dealt with this sector until he was killed."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Kal," Kara didn't know what else to say as she softened her demeanour. She had not been expecting to hear of a death.

"We're not supposed to expose ourselves to the residents of planets like the earth – you know primitive planets – but the sector I've been covering are used to, and know, the Green Lantern Corps. I'm not that good at keeping myself hidden like Alan was and with all your heroes running around I figured no one would really care and so far, I was right. Hal Jordan used to cover this sector too, but he'd been relocated long before Alan died and is unavailable now… anyway, the point is," he sighed, ploughing on and finally taking a breath, "I'm looking for his replacement, scouring this planet for someone worthy of taking up his ring–"

"You think Wally or Jesse are up for the role?" Kara folded her arms again. This wasn't going to work out well. She couldn't picture Wally or Jesse wanting to become a Green Lantern. To be away from family and friends so often.

"No – you actually," Kal moved forward but Kara tightened her folded arms, defensive.

"Me?" Kara asked raising an eyebrow, but couldn't help but remember Kara Danvers's encounter with a Green Lantern when she was young. How he had told her she could become a Green Lantern one day… but that wasn't even her memory. She'd never pictured herself joining the Corp. She hadn't even believed the Prime Universe had a Corp until a few months prior.

"You have all the qualities the Green Lantern Corp could hope for in a member," Kal tried with a smile. "And if you did join we'd see a lot more of each other. Think of it; this would be your sector. You'd still be protecting Earth."

"Yeah… Look, I love seeing you, but I wouldn't make a good Green Lantern, Kal," Kara countered, surprised as he grinned to this.

"That's what my Kara said when Astra offered her the position…" Kal mused, wondering how alike his two cousins were. He would have to get them to meet someday.

"Astra was…?" Kara said confused. "What about Non?"

"Who's Non?' Kal asked. Kara grinned. Astra had never been with Non in this universe, it seemed. Meaning she'd never gone down the path that ended up in her locked up in Fort Rozz. It was all she could hope for.

"No one," she nevertheless pushed off the subject, but did want to know more while Kal was here. "So, Astra is a Green Lantern?" Kara now asked. She could see her Aunt taking the position to protect Krypton. It also meant she could possibly see her Aunt again.

"Until she died, yes," Kal stated, Kara feeling the pit of her stomach drop away. She pursed her lips now – she had asked too much. Kal knew to get away from the topic though as he went back on to his original idea. "My point is, you would be perfect. You protect this world so brilliantly as Power Girl, but you could have so much more… you could be so much more."

"No," Kara shook her head. "I like my life here, I like being Power Girl, having Barry, working for Cat…"

Kal chuckled despite this, but produced a small coin, he held it out to Kara who was hesitant. "If you change your mind, or if you ever need me… just squeeze that." Kara took the coin, curious now. "But please, think of my offer. I can't cover two sectors for much longer."

"Okay," Kara muttered. "It was nice seeing you again, Kal," she smiled as her cousin pulled her into a hug. She was momentarily surprised at the lack of strength in it, remembering embraces with her cousin in her memories of Superman, but she shrugged this off quickly and a moment later and they separated; he took a step back and vanished in a familiar green light.

-Present Day-

Power Man moved over to the unconscious Kara, but before he could make a move, he found himself flying away from the girl and crashing several feet away.

The Flash had arrived and he had hit Power Man. Hard. But this wasn't going to stop the creation from coming back to attack. "Flash. I'm so glad you could join us!" he called from afar, his chest glowing a bright blue as Barry wasted no time in running at him, anger fuelling his strike. But he found himself flying backward as a jet of blue energy emitted from the villain's chest.

Barry was back on his feet quickly though, wondering exactly how this anti-power heart of Power Man's worked and noticing Power Man was already ready to attack again as his chest glowed once more. He was quick. Barry stood in front of Kara protectively, ready to take on the man though.

"Get out of there!" Cisco shouted in Barry ear, but he ignored this as he moved, about to charge head-on into the beam of energy but something blocked his path.

For a moment, Barry wondered if the gathered crowd had finally stepped in, or if one of Joe's men or women had come in to help, but when the energy blast Power Man had directed was rebounded, Barry caught a glimpse of a woman, metal armour and long hair standing before him, her wrists together in the form of an 'x', a large bracelet on each wrist protecting their owner, almost as if this was a barrier between Power Man and The Flash.

"Get her out of here," the woman turned to look at Barry and he realised who had saved him. It was Wonder Woman. How did she exist on this Earth? He didn't obey though as he charged in front of her. He still only had eyes for Power Man. He had harmed Kara and he was going to pay.

Power Man charged, heading straight for Barry, but again, Wonder Woman intercepted, her shield now out, which the villain stuck at full force. A resulting clang was heard as, again, Power Man was rebounded by Wonder Woman, who this time grabbed Barry and thrust him unceremoniously at Kara's still-unconscious form.

"I said, get her out of here Allen," she stated, surprising Barry that she knew his identity.

"Listen to Xena," Cisco added suddenly in Barry's ear. "Get her back to STAR. We need to get her under the UV lights."

Barry didn't have to think this time, grabbing Kara's limp form and running as Wonder Woman distracted Power Man long enough for Barry to get away. Getting to STAR Labs mere seconds later he put Kara down on a temporary bed Caitlin had set up in the Cortex – the medbay wasn't large enough for three people and instantly Barry's mind was in the rebuild and restructuring Harry and Ray had mentioned. If he went ahead with this, STAR would need a proper medical facility, both for the Labs itself and for the Cortex. They'd have to find the space.

"Who was that?" Caitlin asked as she turned on the lamps around the bed, instantly moving over to a nearby monitor to check over Power Girl's vitals.

"Wonder Woman," Cisco stated before Barry could. "We came across her on Alien Earth that time Kara got her that-Earth's Kara's memories. There's a similar version on Karry Earth I met properly last month, but she looked physically different and her outfit was less… Amazonian-chic," Cisco stated in thought.

"That explains nothing, Cisco. Who is she though?" Caitlin now asked, insistent.

"Diana Prince," Barry voiced, letting Caitlin do her stuff as he glanced to a sleeping Powie, still by Jesse's bed. He was glad she was asleep – she would go nuts at Kara being unconscious and Kara was the only one to be able to truly calm her dog.

"Department of meta-human affairs, Diana?" Cisco asked, slightly shocked.

"Must be," Barry muttered. He hadn't had time to think about it while in the field of battle, but now he reflected it seemed obvious. Diana Prince and Wonder Woman were one and the same. He had suspected after coming across her on the other Earths, but had dismissed it until this moment, this Diana being different in her personality trait, and indeed appearance, to the other Wonder Women he had come across. "I had suspected for a while, I mean on the other Earths she had the same powers, somewhat similar looks, the same name – Diana – and even used Wonder Woman as a moniker…" Barry began.

"I don't want to hear about other Earths, Barry, I want to concentrate on this one, the one we're living on. Tell me, why hasn't she been out and about before this?" Caitlin cut Barry off, glancing to the doorway now as Barry and Cisco's eyes followed hers to see the woman in question framed there. "As Wonder Woman, I mean?" She wanted to hear it from Diana, not Barry.

"Because she wanted to keep a low profile," Diana stated in reply, not even explaining how she had got back so quickly. "I apologise," Diana added, still in her Wonder Woman outfit, "but Power Man got away."

"He literally vanished off satellite tracking," Cisco pointed out at this, having been monitoring the battle throughout the conversation.

"He mentioned a Maxi and a Xander before you got there," Caitlin changed tact slightly as eyes remained on Wonder Woman, who moved into the lab and up to the unconscious Kara. All three were hesitant, but given the fact that she'd just revealed her alter-ego to save Kara and Barry's life, it was hardly likely she wanted to harm the currently-weak Kryptonian.

Diana leaned into Kara and whispered something in the other woman's ears. Instantly Kara's eyes fluttered open as she blinked to see Diana over her.

"I know you… I fought White Martians with you." Kara mumbled confusedly as she looked at Diana, who seemed puzzled by this remark herself. It took Kara a moment to realize this was not the same Wonder Woman she had met, however. It was this world's Wonder Woman. "What happened?" Kara groaned, about to sit up but Diana kept her pinned to the spot.

"Barry and I saved you," Diana spoke up as Caitlin moved around to the monitor again.

"You're still very weak, Kara," Caitlin instructed. "You need time to recharge. Whatever Power Man had…"

Kara instantly felt useless, groaning to herself, but Barry was by her side and was crouching by the bed, keeping eye-level with her vehicle form "You're so strong," Barry said, kissing her cheek. "Sometimes everyone needs someone to save them. Don't feel bad." Kara smiled as Barry kissed her again before taking a careful sitting position on the bed. Diana released her surprisingly strong grip on Kara at that point, allowing the Kryptonian to sit up and lean into Barry, who put an arm around her shoulders. "We got to figure out what that stuff was."

"Kryptonite," Kara stated from Barry's shoulder, following Diana with her eyes now as the woman stood back to allow Kara to speak and Caitlin the chance to check her out properly. "A synthetic version of it though, as it's impossible to exist in this universe."

"How so?" Barry asked, curiously.

"Because Kryptonite are the fragments of my home world after it's destruction, eradiated by the dark forces of the universe in its travels from there to here. And as Krypton didn't explode…"

"It couldn't exist as Kryptonite here," Barry concluded with a nod.

"How did he create such a thing though?" Cisco now pointed out.

"He didn't," Kara groaned. "Maxwell Lord and Lex Luthor did. Or Xander Luthor as he's called here."

"Max's business partner," Diana spoke up. "I told you earlier he had new friends…"

"You've been here already?" Barry asked Diana, suddenly shocked.

"Alex and I needed to discuss final arrangements for her leaving," Diana sighed.

"Leaving?!" Kara stood in shock, and instantly regretted it. It felt like she'd been struck in the head with a Kryptonite mallet. Barry eased her back onto the bed.

"Indeed," Diana looked sombrely at Kara now. "ARGUS are opening up a small place in Platinum Flats and have asked her to run it."

"What about here though? Alex is the life and soul of ARGUS in Central," Kara stated, leaning back into Barry again to sooth her head. Barry bit his lip at this, wondering if he should tell the room about Harry and Ray's plans or wait until later.

"Lyla will find someone else," Diana shrugged. "ARGUS are never short of employees."

"Can we back-track a moment?" Caitlin suddenly spoke up, stopping Barry's chance of outing the new STAR Labs plans. "Diana. How…?" Caitlin indicated the outfit. "Wonder Woman?"

"Oh," Diana smiled politely. "I'm an immortal warrior from a magical and unexplored land."

"Right," Cisco now stated, not hiding his confusion. Diana sighed but smiled a little.

"Look up mysterious evens in World War Two," Diana instructed Cisco. "You'll find me. I helped the Justice Society in their heyday too, but moved on to help the world in other ways. I founded and headed the meta-human department. I've been retired as Wonder Woman for a few decades now, but when I saw the attack on Kara, here, I thought I'd dust off the old armour."

"That… well, that explains that," Caitlin stated, not hiding her shock as she exchanged glances with Cisco.

"How did you know my identity as Wonder Woman though?" Diana now asked Caitlin. "I've been retired since before any of you were born."

"We've met your alternatives. On two different Earths," Barry stated as he gently rubbed Kara's arm. "Wasn't a hard leap to you after that."

"Oh. Okay," Diana didn't quite know how to respond to this one, but figured it explained Kara's muttering earlier.

-PowerFlash-

The door to what was once Jesse's rec room before Harry brought their apartment burst open, the only occupant looked up in momentary surprise before melting back into her seat.

"You're leaving?" Kara demanded, leaning against the back of the nearest chair now and was followed by Powie and Wonder Woman. Alex Danvers blinked in confusion at Wonder Woman, but didn't address her as Powie started snarling at her mistress' friend. "Not now, Powie!" Kara snapped and Powie whined, knowing her mistress was upset and wanting to help.

"You need rest," Diana spoke from behind Kara as Powie bowed her head and slunk off to the nearest corner of the room, laying down forlornly as Kara leaned on the arm of a chair.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Alex stood up but Kara batted her away, still upset at her friend.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kara asked, kind-heartedly this time. "I thought we were…"

"Sisters? Friends?" Alex provided curiously, glancing at Wonder Woman again who nodded her head slowly, indicating she would address her appearance once this was over. Alex sighed, knowing how Kara could be at times. She looked like an adult, and mostly acted like it, but it had barely been a year since her creation, and it showed at time. This was one of those times and one of the reason Alex had not mentioned her leaving yet. Besides, she also knew with the memories Kara had from the other world, sometimes their relationship was unclear in her mind. "We're sisters on other worlds, Kara, but here…"

"We're still friends here," Kara implored, "and now you're going to throw that all away to move to Rao-knows-where?"

"That's not how friendship works," Alex responded, leaning forward in her own chair to reach out to Kara. "We'll always be friends, wherever I am, that will never stop, but I need a fresh start – I came here initially to make sure you were okay, and you are. I've done my bit, now you need to work away from me. You don't need me." Alex sighed. "If it makes it any better I was just figuring out how to tell you myself. I wanted you to hear it from me."

"It won't be the same," Kara pouted, meeting Alex's eyes at this, "you're always nearby. Even when I'm at work you're still in the same city."

"I'm not going too far," Alex pointed out smoothly, "Platinum Flats is only an hour or so south of here."

"Which is less than five minutes' flight," Diana spoke up, before confirming, "as Power Girl, not by airplane."

"Diana, what's up with the look?" Alex asked now as Kara sat back contemplatively.

"It's not a look," Diana sighed. "Kara was in danger, Quick and Silver were down and the Flash wasn't yet in Central. I was the only one who could help…"

"You mean you're a meta-human?" Alex stood at this one, waiting for an answer, not having expected that answer.

"Not exactly," Diana sighed, "I've lived for longer than you can contemplate, Alexandra, and have powers given to me by Zeus himself. But I was retired until this moment."

"Right…" Alex sighed, deciding not to question this as Kara looked to the exchange. "What happened?" She now addressed Kara too, knowing she had clearly missed something big and worried she had not been there to help. Clearly Kara had been hurt.

"Lex Luthor and Maxwell Lord," Kara sighed; Alex stiffened. She'd heard of Alien Earth's Lex Luthor's troubles with Superman and knew Lord's reputation from this world alone.

"It seems Lord Enterprises and Lu-Co. have teamed up to take down Power Girl and her friends," Diana voiced.

"Lu-Co.?" Kara addressed at the unfamiliar name. "That's Lex's company?"

"Alexander Luthor Senior's, actually," Diana provided, "he retired last year, his son took his place."

"Wonderful…" Kara muttered, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"What did they do though?" Alex asked Kara now.

"They made Kryptonite," Kara sighed. Alex held back at this as she simply muttered 'right' before standing and strolling pass the superhero duo and out of the door; Powie followed her from her spot on the floor as Kara and Diana exchanged glances before moving off after her.

Alex strolled into the Cortex, Barry, Caitlin and Cisco falling suddenly silent as she spoke: "I need information on Anti-Kryptonite devices."

"What?" Cisco and Caitlin asked in unison. Neither had heard of Kryptonite until today.

"Other earths. They're bound to have Anti-Kryptonian devices, able to stop Maxwell and Xander Luthor. I mean they deal with Kryptonite all the time. They must have found some way to counteract it." Kara had to smile at this; Alex was protective of her, sister or not. Maybe things wouldn't be different even with her in a different city, after all.

"It was a creation of Lord and Luthor's which had the Kryptonite, Alex," Kara stated, supported by Diana this time. The pair passed a confused Alex as Diana helped Kara back on the bed with the solar lamps. Power Man had drained her in a way Parasite never could. Powie had solemnly followed her mistress back into the room and whined again at seeing Kara so weak. She took position beside the bed. "I'll be fine Powie," Kara muttered, just able to reach her dog's scalp to stroke.

"So?" Alex asked. "It's using Kryptonite –"

"It isn't," Kara cut her friend off, "it's a synthetic Kryptonite, made by the duo to reverse my various abilities. Sort of like when Lord made Red Kryptonite on Alien Earth. It's Kryptonite but it is not Kryptonite. It mimics Kryptonite, but…"

"It may not be Kryptonite," Caitlin finished, Kara nodding to her. "It could be like bringing a broom to a chainsaw match – we being the ones with the broom, I mean."

"Meaning?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow, unsure of where they were going with this.

"Meaning using another Earth's Anti-Kryptonite devices could have no effect on this Anti-Power stuff," Caitlin surmised. "We need to do this on our own skill, with our own brains and our own ideas. We shouldn't need to trust on other worlds to help save our asses – they certainly don't for us. They don't ask for our help, and we've been good up until now."

"Well said," Ray Palmer was standing in the doorway, half-way in his Atom suit, looking impressed at his girlfriend's words. Caitlin momentarily blushed, but then paled at seeing him, grinning at his compliment. "Which is why we need to out-skill this Power Man."

"Out-skill?" Alex asked, a little lost now.

"Power Girl and The Flash against Power Man isn't even. We need more. This Power Man is stronger, better, more skilled… doesn't he have speed too?" he looked to Cisco at this.

"There was a detection of speed-force during Barry and Diana's confrontation," Cisco confirmed.

"Right. We need all the reinforcements we can get," Ray stated. "A team up."

"You're Raymond Palmer," Diana spoke, surprising Ray as he finally noticed her. Her look was familiar to him, but he couldn't place it yet.

"Yeah. Who are you?" Ray asked.

"Diana Prince. But I'm better known as Wonder Woman… many years previously I met a friend of yours. He was fond of you despite having left you in the future. It didn't make sense until now," Diana spoke.

"Rip Hunter," Ray sighed, knowing what this meant. "Time traveller," he confirmed for Diana.

She nodded. "A fine and upstanding gentleman, even if a bit…"

"Weird?" Ray joked. Diana smiled at this.

"Anyway, are you suggesting what I think you are?" Diana now asked.

"What's that, exactly?" Cisco asked, hand in the air so he wasn't ignored.

"Reform the Society," Ray and Diana said as one, making everyone look at them.

"Wait, what Society?" Barry asked confused.

"The Justice Society," Diana stated at this. "I mentioned it earlier."

"I thought it was the Justice League?" Barry responded, looking bewilderedly to Cisco and Caitlin at this. That was what it was called on Karry after all, and Barry had sort of liked that name.

"On other worlds, may be," Caitlin however responded, "but here it's The Justice Society, it seems. I like it," she smiled at her boyfriend, who moved over and pecked her on the cheek.

"Babe, your skin is like ice…" Ray muttered.

"Must be coming down with something," Caitlin waved him off quickly.

Meanwhile, Kara leaned in to Barry, who had taken up position on the bed next to her. "Should we tell them Mutant Earth has a Justice Society?" She asked him quietly so only he could hear; they had heard about it in their travels after all.

"No," Barry chuckled, shaking his head, remembering it now – he had blocked off a lot of memories from that Earth hop. "Let's not give our Cisco reason to think up a different name for it." Barry chuckled, but knew his friend might just consider other names if he knew another world had used it.

Ray moved away from Caitlin as she decidedly addressed the room, "The Flash, Wonder Woman and The Atom against Power Man?"

"If we're looking for numbers, what about that bat guy in Gotham?" Cisco pointed out, a weird smirk on his face.

"Bat guy?" Barry asked, never having heard of this from Cisco before; Ray looked to Vibe in confusion too.

"Seriously?" Cisco blinked in shock, "Never looked at the STAR Bulletin emails I send out once a month?"

"You have a bulletin?" Barry now asked, equally as shocked. "I never knew that."

"Forget that, what bat guy?" Kara interrupted, her voice a higher pitch than normal as she leaned into Barry. Barry put an arm around Kara feeling her unease for some reason and wanting to comfort her.

"He's a vigilante. Or at least I think he is. I think it's a guy, now I mention it… dresses as a bat, scares the baddies in the city… been going for a few years now. I could Vibe him here… Seriously though? You've never heard of him? I think Dick is a friend…"

"Nightwing?" Barry pulled a face and Kara chuckled at this reference.

"The point is, you need help, I could Vibe to Gotham, grab the bat and bring him back," Cisco sighed, trying his best not to slap Barry now.

"No," Kara spoke up before Barry could, eyes turning to look at her now.

"Cisco has a point and we do need more than Ray, Diana and myself…" Barry muttered now.

"I hate bats. Not too fond of birds either," Kara explained. "We never had creatures that could fly on Krypton, so to see them here…"

"But your memories are fake," Cisco pointed out, "and you were around before you got those memories too."

"They are not fake. They are from someone else's. Look, I just don't like bats okay? It's bad enough when I can see birds in the day, but shrieking black things in the dead of night… and a man to dress up as one? No. No way are we getting him involved." Kara stated forcefully. "Why did you think of this… Batman anyway? We don't know him. We don't know if he would be willing to help. If he can help."

"Oh, err, ever since Nightwing mentioned his friend I did some digging. Been following the bat for a while and mentioned him a few times in the Bulletin, which is why I was surprised you didn't know already," Cisco shrugged it off. They were clearly not going for this Bat vigilante.

"Bat-guy sounds like a dick anyway…" Barry added now, "which speaking of, Dick would be better. He does know us and owe us a favour."

"I don't think we can get Dick. He's a little busy." Cisco stated quickly now, taking Nightwing out of the equation.

"Moving on," Ray spoke up again. "Minus the Batman, we can still have Wonder Woman, The Flash and Atom – Martin and Jax are local so we can get Firestorm involved…"

"Power Girl too!" Kara stated quickly, next to Barry.

"No," Barry countered his own girlfriend, "you need to recharge. Your power-up button thing didn't last long, plus…" he glanced to Cisco who nodded, "you need to contact your cousin."

"Kal?" Kara asked, confused.

"His Green Lantern powers would be highly effective–"

"Especially since we have more trouble right now," Alex cut Barry off, handing her phone to Cisco who's eyes widened before he connected it to the monitors. All in the room turned their eyes to the computer screen now as he pulled up a snapshot of the alert Alex had received: Kara, only with long blonde air, dark grey skin-tight outfit and a black cape was hovering over the familiar, similarly dressed Power Man.

"They made the anti-us," Barry muttered angrily.

"Anti-you?" Diana asked raised eyebrow.

"Power Man… he's got the speed-force in him, hasn't he, as well as this anti-power/kryptonite heart and now they have this… bizarre version of Kara! I wonder what her powers are?" Barry stated.

"Bizzaro," Cisco pointed out, a finger in the air. "Bizarre-Kara… Bizzaro."

"Not your best," Kara smirked, remembering the Bizzaro from Alien Earth. How Cat Grant had named her with such similar determination. Weird how the universe worked. It seemed inevitable though that Maxwell Lord of this universe had made his own Bizzaro – he had made the Alien Earth version, after all.

"Okay, Diana, Ray and Barry, you need to stop these two as best you can. I'll get in contact with Firestorm, see if they can help. Kara, you focus on recharging and contacting your cousin while I'll scrounge up two teams to storm Lord Enterprises and Lu-Co to arrest both owners – we can stop this before it gets out of hand," Alex instructed all, surprised when Kara jumped off the bed and sped to her, wrapping her in a hug.

"I'm going to miss you," Kara muttered into Alex's ear, pulling away after a moment.

"And I, you," Alex stated, a faltering smile on her face as the breathed in, addressing the room. "Well Justice Society… time to get to work."

-PowerFlash-

Kara was surprised to find the table and chairs in the Gideon room, but shrugged them off as she moved over to the secret panel located in the wall opposite the entrance. She had put it in here that night, promising never to use it again – she didn't want to be a Green Lantern and didn't want to pull Kal out of his duties as one, but she needed him, and his powers, now more than ever.

The panel slid open and she grabbed the small coin. She had used her solar booster already to confront Alex, but that hadn't lasted, and solar exposure was taking it's time while Power Man's Parasite effect still reigned over her, but if she could claim the dead Lantern's ring, even for half an hour, she could have the power to stop him and Bizzaro, help the New Justice Society. She squeezed the coin.

 _Kara Zor-El…_ she heard Kal's voice in her head, faint but clear. It startled her for a moment before she grinned. It seemed this was how the coin worked.

 _I need you, cousin,_ she thought back. _We all need you._

There was a flash of green light and Kal-El stood next to her in the room, she spinning to grin at him as he took her into a big hug, she grinning into the embrace and forgetting for a moment all of her troubles, her lack of powers. She was just Kara Zor-El with her cousin Kal-El. She was almost upset when he finally broke apart from her.

"Changed your mind?" Kal asked, a genuine smile on his face now.

"No… and yes," Kara stated. "We need your help. There's a powerful nemesis we need your help stopping. He drained me of my powers and I don't know if Atom, The Flash and Wonder Woman are enough."

"Wonder Woman?" Kal cocked his head. "Diana said she had retired."

"You knew…?" Kara blinked in confusion. How could Kal know Wonder Woman? He barely knew Earth.

"Only met her once, but I remember she was a power-house of forces, created by the Gods themselves – or at least god-like beings. So, what's the plan?" he folded his arms this time.

"This nemesis, he's calling himself Power Man and had an ally, Bizzaro. If she's anything like the Bizzaro another version of myself faced, she's literally an anti-Kryptonian, power-wise. Freeze-vision instead of heat-vision, fire-breath instead of freeze-breath, abilities to see through lead, you name it – and I wouldn't put it past her to have a Kryptonite heart too. Maxwell Lord and Xander Luthor would have found a way to shield her from its powers but not anyone else…"

"Sorry… Kryptonite heart?" Kal seemed a little lost, like Cisco and Caitlin, he'd not heard of the word before. He could hazard a guess as to its origin though.

"Not real Kryptonite, a synthetic version," Kara now rambled, not realising Kal was lost already. "Real Kryptonite doesn't really exist here. But this fake one…. It's why… why I'm so weak at the moment. Power Man drained my powers, his anti-power/Kryptonite heart made sure I wouldn't gain them back in time to stop him properly. I need the ring. The one from the dead Lantern. I need your powers to stop these two," Kara was insistent. She knew what she wanted, but she wasn't very delicate in asking for it.

"No," Kal stated, suddenly surprising Kara. "I cannot give you the ring for selfish needs."

"Selfish? How is wanting to protect my city, help my friends, and stop a bad guy selfish? It's actually the exact opposite. If I was being selfish and wanted to protect myself I would not go and let my friends do this one their own." Kara complained.

"But you have no intention of being a Green Lantern for life," Kal said. "You can't just take the ring and use it once and then throw it out."

"But you were offering it to me a few weeks back!" Kara complained, feeling agitated now. She didn't have her powers and Kal was denying her the alternative.

"Once you have that ring, you're a Lantern for life. You don't want that – you've made it clear," Kal explained, "but I can offer you my ring."

"Your ring? But your powers…" Kara felt suddenly winded.

"I haven't been drained by this Kryptonite-stuff. I take off this ring and I get Power Girl's powers. The ring and I are bonded so I can temporarily transfer my abilities to you. It's happened before. In fact, my Kara once used Astra's ring for similar purpose, without taking Astra's place, before suggesting me to the Corp, but back to topic… I always wanted to know what it felt like to be you. I've been curious of what it would be like to be the version of me you know from other worlds," he smirked at her.

"You don't," Kara sighed, "the moment I was free of Duplicate, and when my parallel stepped out of her pod… it's like a migraine of immeasurable proportions. You can see… everything, can hear everything and you could risk freezing or blowing something up with the sudden onslaught of power. It took Kara Danvers a whole teenage-hood to control her abilities and myself a hardcore month or so at a secret ARGUS facility gaining control of everything and even now…"

"Then you'll have to talk me through it," Kal stated defiantly. "You did say at Christmas I was a hero with these powers in alternative realities… this 'Superman' person."

"Yeah, but you were a baby when you – Kal!" Kal had removed his ring as she spoke and dropped it on the floor in front of himself. Kara cautiously picked up the metallic object. It was so small to give someone so much power… and yet Kal still had his Lantern uniform on.

"I'm…" Kal started, before wincing, a hand moving to his head; another to his eyes.

"Listen to my voice Kal. Concentrate on me." Kara insisted, all pretences gone now. Her cousin was getting the Kryptonian powers and she knew how that felt. "If you can harness your Lantern powers, you can do this." She had no choice but to back him up now as she placed a hand on her cousin's arm, a reassuring move Clark Kent has done to Kara when she had first had the ambush of powers all those year past. "Work through the pain, through the confusion, the voices, the x-ray vision and concentrate on me. You were born to be a hero… you can do this."

"Put… on… the ring!" Kal demanded, removing his hand from his eyes so as to look at Kara. His eyes were glowing but he wasn't striking out, wasn't hitting her with his new-found laser-vision. She could tell he was fighting the sudden need to give in to the powers too, to collapse into a pile and go mad.

Kara nodded as she placed the ring on her finger and suddenly gasped. She felt weak no longer. It felt different, odd but not unusual. Her Kryptonian powers may have dulled, but with the ring on they were gone; replaced by something different. She noticed her outfit hadn't changed, too – Kal had said about a temporary transfer or something, this must have been what it meant. She got the power, but they kept their uniforms.

"I'm good," Kal gasped suddenly, standing up again having indeed crumpled to his knees. Kara looked to him, unsure. "We can do this Kara," his voice sounded weak but she could see in his face that he had, somehow, gained control. He really was born to be a superhero. Whether it was Superman or Green Lantern this was his destiny. It would always be his destiny.

"Let's kick some Power-butt," Kara stated, a little cautiously.

-PowerFlash-

Barry, Diana, Ray, and Firestorm had gone to where Power Man and Bizzaro were causing chaos in the city.

"This city is under our protection!" Barry called, standing in front of the group of heroes on the ground while Ray and Firestorm floated overhead.

"Let's see if you can protect it," Power Man retorted, sending out a blast from his anti-power heart. The group scattered to dodge the blast. The Flash used this to distract Bizzaro as Firestorm blasted her from the air. Bizzaro let out a heat breath to counteract the blaze from Firestorm as Diana reached behind her, sword in hand, but Bizzaro barely felt the blade as she turned around, ready to fight the Amazonian woman.

Diana took flight just as Bizzaro leaped, fighting in the air, super-strength against super-strength. Diana threw Bizzaro away from her, and Firestorm hit her with another blast.

As Firestorm and Wonder Woman fought Bizzaro in the air, Atom and Barry took on Power Man on the ground. Barry and Power Man were running around each other; Power Man clearly a speedster, and Barry wondered how long it had been since Luthor and Lord created him, how they had got the speed-force. How had they made Bizzaro, come to think of it? Power Man was fast, on par with Barry already, who was still the fastest speedster in their group.

Ray had shrunken down to miniature and was on the back of Power Man, hoping he could disable whatever allowed Power Man to use his heart as a ray gun. He figured there had to be some type of mechanism to allow it, but it didn't seem so. Ray was thrown off Power Man and into the air, where he resized and shot an energy blast at the other man. Power Man took it with no problem and let off one of his shots at Ray this time.

Barry took the distraction, ready to punch Power Man right in the heart – the only way to take down this guy seemed to be to try to take out the anti-power, but when his hand met the man's chest, he felt a sharp pain and heard a crack. He was then pushed away by a sneering Power Man.

"Not going to take me out that easily," Power Man cried with a smirk, ready to attack the Flash but Ray let out more blasts.

"You okay?" Ray asked.

"I think I broke my hand!" Barry replied, cautiously flexing the hand. He was healing already. "I'll be good. Not out of this fight yet." He ran around Power Man, throwing out a lightning bolt at the villain, and Ray shot at him once more. Power Man seemed a little dinged, but was still fighting.

"This is going to be a long battle," Ray responded, the pair continuing to fight the man.

In the sky, Wonder Woman and Firestorm were having little luck with Bizzaro. They were keeping her at bay, but this one was hard to take down. They had ducked, dived and dodged attacks, almost as much as Bizzaro had – that was when a green light came about, grabbing the girl. They expected it to be Kal, but was surprised to see Kara using the ring. Kal was not far behind her though, and went to punch Bizzaro.

"Power Girl?" Firestorm asked, surprised.

"New and improved," Kara called. "We've got her," Kara added, with a smile.

"We could use Firestorm on this end," Alex voice was heard in the coms, and the fire meta was given a small nod from Kara before he flew away.

"Go help Flash and Atom. This is Kryptonian against anti-Kryptonian," Kara told Wonder Woman as she went back to battle her Bizzaro version. Kal had been punching Bizzaro as the three had talked; the two of them matching strength, but Kal seeming to be a bit stronger already.

Wonder Woman nodded as she went to help the two boys, letting the Kryptonians take the part. Kara used the ring, already knowing the basics. "Just think," Kal cried to Kara. "The ring will do what you want. Just image what you want it to do, and it will do it."

Kara thought, and out of the ring came what looked like a green fist – it was almost comical had it not had so much force in it as it hit into Bizzaro. "That's it!" Kal cheered with a smirk. "I got to say, I like this super-strength."

-PowerFlash-

Alex led the charge into Lord Enterprises. It was late, so the building was minimally staffed now, but she knew Maxwell worked late – after the Red Tornado incident, ARGUS had kept a close eye on the man, so she had gotten good intel on him, but had never officially met him. They stunned the security when they entered the building, indicating the team was to go quietly up the man's office; security had no choice but to let the organisation pass.

"Don't let the man talk," Alex told an agent as they moved up the stairwell, "arrest now, talk later, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," came the reply.

"Firestorm has agreed to siege the Lu-Co building. Once Luthor and Lord are in custody, then they can both talk as much as they like. Ready?" They had reached Maxwell's office already, Alex indicating her team to take the other side of the door as they paused a moment.

She moved, kicking in the door as she and her officers stormed the large room. "This is ARGUS, keep your hands where…" Alex started, but stopped when it became glaringly obvious that the room was empty. "We're clear," she sighed to herself. "Check the rest of the building..." she turned to her team.

The other agents moved from the room, two staying with Alex as she sighed and lowered her gun, moving over to the desk, finding a laptop closed on the Formica. "Firestorm?" she reached to her coms device. "Report?"

The moment Kara and her Green Lantern cousin had turned up, Firestorm had flown to the Lu-Co building; the corporation didn't have lodgings in Central, with its main tower block several miles away in National City. He didn't have any agents with him either, as the journey to National took him mere seconds, while it would take even the best military helicopters a few minutes; and this needed to be dealt with quickly – they would come, but he needed to stop Luthor first.

Unlike Alex, Firestorm wasted no time in getting straight to the business owner's office, smashing through one the windows as he landed in the spacious room, taking in the décor momentarily before looking to the desk.

 _He's not here,_ Stein thought to Jax.

"Report?" Alex's voice came over the specially made coms in the meta's ear as Jax spoke aloud;

"Empty, Agent Danvers," Jax sighed.

 _Laptop, Jefferson,_ Stein added in Jax's mind, both turning to look at the desk where a laptop stood open. Cautiously, Firestorm moved over to it and opened it – with control not to melt it, of course.

"Something's happening," Alex's voice came on the intercom. "I have Lord's laptop and it seemed dead for a moment…"

"That would be us," Firestorm spoke. "Luthor left a laptop too… Hang on, are you getting this?"

Words appeared on the screen Firestorm was looking at. He had expected a recorded message or something more sinister from the man Alex had warned him about, but no, it was a simple message:

 _We will stop the alien and meta threats without you. Until next time. – Luthor and Lord._

"Did you get a message?" Alex asked back as Jax recited it back to her. "Same here… what would it mean?"

 _If I may…?_ Stein added in Firestorm's brain as Jax allowed the professor control. "Ms. Danvers, I do believe it means Team Power-Flash, and even the newly reformed Team Legends may have found a worthy adversary. Parasite, Power Man and even this Bizzaro creation will only be the first in a long line of Luthor and Lord creations…"

"Seriously? That old villainy tact? We can easily arrest the duo when they turn up –"

"If they turn back up," Stein still had control of Firestorm and he had already closed the message off and was looking through what he could on the computer. "Luthor and Lord have left the building. They've both left their companies to lesser colleagues on a temporary basis… it seems they've moved on to pastures new."

"In other words, they've gone underground," Alex sighed. "This has been a waste of time."

 _Unless this is a trap and they've planted a bomb in each building_ … _?_ Jax now added in thought to Stein.

 _Oh, how cliché,_ Stein responded. _As art-house theatre as that would be, I seriously doubt they'd destroy their own buildings just to prove a point. The money required for repair alone would take away from this little… project._

"Withdraw, then," Alex sighed, breaking up Firestorm's little monologue. "Meet back at base, or re-join the JSA battle. Up to you. This has been a dead end."

-PowerFlash-

Kal and Kara were still battling Bizzaro. Kara was getting the hang of the ring, and Kal his Kryptonian powers – although his aim with heat vision was a little off, but he had used freeze breath well. He seemed to like the strength the best, liking punching with it. Even if it seemed odd to be punching someone who looked just like Kara. Kara could almost see him in the blue and red of Superman, even though he was in the green and black of the Green Lantern.

"You know it's fun working with you," Kara said with a smiled as they continued to fight.

"I feel the same way, baby cuz," Kal said with a smirk.

On the ground Diana joining in against Power Man had help a lot. The strength and the skills of the Amazonian with Barry's speed and Ray suit was started to wear Power Man out. "Flash!" Wonder Woman called, holding up her sword and Barry knew what she wanted.

Ray was distracting Power Man at that moment. Barry ran off to get some speed behind him and came back with a punch, sending Power Man flying right toward Diana. As he was falling, unable to defend himself, Diana thrust the sword up, stabbed him right in the gut. Seconds later, Diana pulled the sword out, and the three heroes stood together, figuring they had won but Power Man started up to his feet, sheer determination in his battered and bloodied face. Blood was pouring out of his gut too, but the man looked ready to continue the fight.

"What the hell is he thing made of?!" Ray asked, not believing this guy was willing to continue to fight in his condition.

"I don't kn–" Barry stopped as a shimmer of light met his eye behind Power Man – a blue portal was opening! Was another world coming to help them in this battle? What world could come and help them though? The only one he knew with a Vibe was Mutant Earth, and their Vibe didn't seem to know how to open portals yet. Had he figured it out already?

His thoughts of alternative Flashes, Supergirls and Vibes joining in to help were dashed when a familiar zombie-like figure flew from the portal. "Oh no," Barry groaned as even Power Man turned to look at the distraction, "not now!"

"Flash… dead…" Black Flash cried, making eyes go to Barry as the figure sped towards them.

Barry was ready to run, figuring he would have to do this chase again and somehow escape, but he didn't have to. Black Flash took hold of a stunned Power Man and sped forward, opening another blue portal, the two disappearing as the portal closed behind them. The three glanced to one another, looking at where Power Man and Black Flash had disappeared from, no one sure what to say.

Barry was the one who finally broke the silence. "Did Zoom just help us?" He asked looking around at his two comrades.

"I think so man," Ray said, unsure himself about what had just happened, not even been let in on the true fate of Zoom or this Black Flash's connection to the second evil speedster.

Meanwhile in the air the two Kryptonians had taken a lead in their fight, none paying attention to what had happened below. Kara had a green energy force around Bizarro, trapping her in the green light. She was struggling though, making it hard for Kara to hold, but Kal was there in seconds, hitting Bizzaro.

"Let go!" Kal told Kara, and Kara dropped the green light. Kal took hold of the weakened Bizzaro and sped right towards the floor, throwing her against the pavement and then punching her again. She finally lost consciousness as Kara landed beside the pair, feeling sickened now at the damage she and Kal had inflicted on her double. Bizzaro's face was cracked, just like her Alien Earth counterpart, reminding Kara of a delicate porcelain doll, forever broken.

"Nice job Kal," Kara said however, pulling his attention away from the other girl.

"You too, cousin," Kal said, standing up now and looking to her. "Are you sure you don't want the ring? We make a great team."

"We always have," Kara said, hugging him and kissing his cheek. "You sure you can't just transfer here full time?"

"I could, but it would mean leaving Krypton," Kal said cautiously, and Kara decided not to say anything about that. She couldn't ask her cousin to leave his home planet permanently. "What do I do with her?" Kal picked up Bizzaro as he asked this.

"I'll take her," Diana said, and Kal nodded, giving the woman over to Diana. "It's nice to see you again," Diana winked at Kal as she flew away with Bizzaro.

Kal watched her go as Kara noticed Barry, standing still and staring into space – he was still looking at where the second portal had been, but she hadn't noticed its appearance, so didn't know. She and Ray switched positions though; Atom going to talk to Kal, while Kara moved to Barry cautiously.

"This was a win, you know?" Kara said, slipping her hand in his. Barry just nodded. "What's wrong?" Kara could sense his mind racing, his thoughts wandering.

"For so long I have worked alone," Barry said quietly now. "Two whole years struggling on my own. The Flash verses the world… Why didn't we do this before? Why did we not make a team before?"

"You didn't have Wonder Woman before," Kara pointed out, "or Kal… or me," she leaned into him at this, a little playful.

"I did have Atom, Firestorm and Green Arrow though," Barry finally looked around to her, their hands still clasped together. "There are so many more out there, too," he shook his head. "We were just so… stubborn – our city, our problem. We didn't want to ask for help. We did not want a team, but I look at Karry Universe and from what you said and what I saw, their League is a well-oiled machine. I see Mutant Earth, with their own Justice Society – I'd forgotten that until you mentioned it earlier, you know. Even Alien Earth's Supergirl works with the DEO and her own cousin, and now Flash and Kid Flash are there. The same with SuperEarth with the DEO and Astra."

"What are you getting at?" Kara sighed, moving in front of him, so they were face-to-face.

"We're far behind them. We need to catch up." Barry sighed.

"We will." Kara leaned in, their foreheads meeting for a moment as Barry chuckled. She leaned in to kiss him properly. They had learned a lot from their Earth hopping, and Barry had learned more than he had ever suspected, wanted more than he ever realized. This was a new beginning though. He was done with the solo act.

-PowerFlash-

She didn't want to take off the ring, but knew Kal needed it back. The power of the Lantern Corp had been incredible, overwhelming almost, and had helped stop Bizzaro, and even Power Man in the end, but all things had an end, and she needed to give Kal her final thoughts to his offer, after all.

They arrived back at STAR Labs first, entering the Cortex together. Kara reluctantly removed the ring, instantly feeling her temporary powers drain as she passed it silently back to her cousin, who was more than thankful to put it on as they both stopped in the entrance of the Cortex. Iris was there, with a familiar brunette. Kara couldn't place where she'd seen the woman before, but by the look of annoyance on Cisco's face, it was clear she wasn't exactly welcome.

"Miss West?" Kara asked, keeping up a pretence as she moved over to her friend. "What do we owe this pleasure?"

"You can drop the act, Miss Wells," the brunette spoke before Iris could; the latter having an anguished look on her face. "Lois Lane, Daily Planet – I'm here to talk to your friend," she glanced over the shocked Kara's shoulder to Kal-El behind her. "If I may…?" she added, moving passed Kara anyway, to a slightly shocked Kal, who felt suddenly ambushed as Lois, pen and paper ready, "Lois Lane, Daily Planet." She reintroduced herself. "So, what do you go by?"

"Kal-El, of the house of El," Kal said, a little confused as to what was going on. He'd never been interviewed before. "But I am a Green Lantern if that's what you mean?"

"Green Lantern. Hmmm. Not a bad name. How do you have these powers?" Lois asked, clearly in reporter mode, not noticing Kal's confusion.

"I was chosen by the Green Lantern Corp.," Kal said, deciding to go with fact as he added on a more personal note, "and may I say, I have been to many planets and many places and even on my home world I have seen very few women as beautiful as you."

"Oh… well…" Lois was taken aback as she looked up with a smile, finally noticing the man herself. "You're not bad looking too." She had to admit, Kal was a handsome man, and it had been a while since she had allowed another man to grab her affections. Ever since Richard White, she had made walls that she hadn't dropped for anyone. Her mind was having trouble coming up with another question now, though. "So, um… what was…? Oh yeah, home world. You're an alien?"

"A Kryptonian," Kal answered.

"You look human," Lois said, getting back on track.

"My species were around first. You look Kryptonian," Kal countered with a small smirk. "So, Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Tell me a little about you. It's only fair since you were asking about me…" Lois smiled.

Meanwhile Kara had taken Iris aside, keeping an eye on the two. "Iris?" Kara asked warningly.

"I'm sorry, Kara. Cat threw her on me this morning, and idol or not, she's a bit high-maintenance," Iris sighed.

"How did she know who I was?" Kara asked stunned. "Did you tell her?"

"No, I didn't know she knew until she said it," Iris said. "I was just as surprised as you – honest."

Kara looked at Iris and knew she was telling the truth, but then she smirked. "She's Lois Lane. She doesn't need a reason," Kara said.

"But this is good, right? Kal-El and Lois Lane… Lois and Clark?" Iris said, having heard of the other world.

"He's not Clark Kent in this universe – he barely knows human customs, let alone… that stuff," Kara glanced back at the pair who seemed to be heavily flirting with each other now

"You have a son?" Kal was enquiring with a smile. "I always wanted children, but never found the time."

"He's a great boy," Lois replied, and Kara couldn't help but smile as she heard this.

"Maybe Lois and Kal are meant for each other," she sighed to herself with a smile, seeing the instant chemistry as Iris giggled at this.

A red blur announced the arrival of Barry; he barely had time to register the oddity of an unfamiliar face in base before Cisco jumped at him and dragged him over to Caitlin, still looking over the unconscious Wally and Jesse.

"How are they?" Kara sighed, deciding to move pass the oddity that was Lois and Kal and directing her attention at the sleeping speedsters. Powie lay by Jesse's feet, but was awake, glaring at Lois from her spot but for once, not growling. Kara smirked at her pet. Maybe she was finally calming down?

"The same as earlier. I haven't really had the chance, what with Lois…" Iris began.

"It's fine," Kara pulled Iris into an impromptu hug, both stressed over injured siblings, "they'll pull through, and I'm sorry…" she released Iris from the hug, "I reacted badly to Lois. I should have known, Cat did ask me about Kal yesterday but I didn't give her any information."

"Where were you today? I had to cover you like you did for me yesterday…" Iris muttered.

"I had your stomach bug," Kara winked. "I needed time away from the office, I knew Cat wouldn't give me the day off so it seemed a good solution."

"Lucky Lois was around, or else Cat would have been fuming. Be careful tomorrow." Iris muttered as Kara nodded.

In the meantime, Barry, Caitlin and Cisco had been in discussion. Barry had told them Harry and Ray's offer earlier and Caitlin and Cisco had seemed dubious at first, but now they'd had time to process and discuss it amongst themselves, they knew what they wanted to do. Barry had to take the lead though; the building was his after all.

"Harry?" Barry called to the man, who had greeted Ray and Diana's return as Firestorm separated in the entrance and Stein moved off to talk to Alex before Jax could even get his balance.

"Allen," Harry smiled pleasantly at the trio; Caitlin and Cisco just behind Barry.

"We want to do it," Barry stated simply. "Re-open STAR with yours and Ray's plans."

"But we need pay rises," Cisco spoke up, "and Caitlin needs a nurse or something."

"If I'm dealing with Team Power-Flash and the JSA now, the medical wing needs expanding and I need someone else to help take off the stress; especially if I'm not around to treat others," Caitlin stated, not quite meeting Harry's eye.

"Deal." Harry smiled widely. "STAR will need a medical facility regardless. I shall talk to Mr. Palmer now. Get the ball rolling."

-PowerFlash-

Oliver Queen had caught the team-up on the television while still in his office. Even if they had asked he wouldn't have been able to help this time around – he had been the Mayor of Starling for almost a year now and the good news kept on coming… Diggle was free. It had been stressful, what with John giving in to his own guilt at being broken out by Olly, but for once the law had worked in their favour. Military corruption had been the main contender in the trial and now all corners of the military were being subjugated for such acts of misconception.

Nevertheless, Olly felt the need to train now. To release some pressure. He had headed to the Arrow HQ below the very building he worked in, his mind still on Diggle's trial, when he stopped, feeling winded.

A woman stood alone, her back facing him as she looked at the mannequins holding the various suits of Team Arrow – old and new. She must have heard him as she turned her blonde head to look at him, smiling.

"Hi Olly," was all she needed to say.

"Laurel," Oliver breathed, barely believing his luck as her face fell at the name and something clicked in his head. Laurel was dead. They couldn't bring her back. Which meant… "Dinah?" he corrected himself, remembering the clone Quentin had made in which he had helped bestow memories on.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Only…"

"What?" Oliver asked, all pretences gone as he moved over to the woman, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Something was up. He may not know Dinah, but he knew her face and he knew when something was troubling that face.

"How do you do it?" Dinah asked, not meeting Oliver's eyes as she spoke.

"Do what?" Olly tried to grasp at straws.

"The whole dual-identity thing. How do you be Oliver Queen, the Mayor of Starling, and the Green Arrow all in one day?" she asked.

"I… I just do. I don't know, I have experience. Five years of it, sort of. Why?" He was generally concerned for the woman.

"This whole Dinah/Laurel business," she pulled away from his grasp. "I don't know where to draw the line… where Laurel ends and Dinah should begin."

"I'm not following?" Oliver tried, not understanding what she meant.

"My memories, the ones you, Sara, Thea, Nyssa and dad gave me. Recently… my mind's been reversing them, been confusing them from a perspective I never had, I shouldn't have," This time she looked at Olly, but her look was torturous.

"You're getting Laurel's memories?" Olly concluded.

"No, of course not, they're gone where no-one can claim them, but at the same time… It's difficult to process, the images of yourself from someone else's perspective so my mind'svbeen concocting self-perspectives, my own thoughts and feelings to what I've been told I went through like…" she stared into Oliver's eyes at this point, "our first date – or, rather, Laurel and yours. I see it from her perspective now, I feel her nerves, her worries. Was the dress good? How much should I drink? Would we kiss at the end of it…?"

"Dinah… that was over ten years ago," Oliver pointed out.

"I know, but it feels so real, it feels like I'm her, that she's me and I don't want to fight it. I can't fight it. I was destined to… I don't know, to be her, from the moment you gave me those memories. The human mind…" she waved her hand in an excuse, not wanting to waft on.

"So, what, you want to be her now?" Oliver stiffened at this, "you want Laurel not to be dead, to be her, because –"

"I know, Oliver, she's dead. I'm not her. I'm meant to be her long-lost twin after all, but I can't be Dinah Lance any more. I honestly can't. I must be true to who I am, to what you all made me. I have to be Laurel Lance," the newly-titled Laurel groaned.

"I'm not stopping you," Olly stated simply. "But, what do your mom and dad think? Quentin and the Dinah Senior?"

"Like I'm their daughter returned from the dead. It happened with Sara, why not me – her," Laurel muttered, glancing down now in worry. "It's not healthy for them."

"It's their coping mechanism though," Oliver muttered, Laurel chancing a glance to him. "It may be unhealthy, but if it's keeping them happy…"

"I suppose," Laurel sighed.

"Why come here though? Why travel half-way across America just to ask me how I handle identities?" Oliver now asked, but Laurel turned from him instead, to look at the mannequin holding the original Laurel's Black Canary outfit

"How did she handle the buckles?" Laurel chuckled, Oliver raising his eyebrows, silent. "I took that from her too. The Black Canary, I mean. Mom made me a new outfit though, more… colorful and less, dominatrix compared to this but still… Oliver, I'm leaving," she turned to Oliver, he shaking his head suddenly as if to bat away flies. "Sara, Alex and myself, we've agreed. ARGUS wants to set up shop outside of Starling and Central; there's a new-ish city in California – Platinum Flats – and we're thinking of going there."

"Okay…?" Oliver stated, a little unsure of what was expected of him. "And why tell me face-to-face?"

"Because… god this sounds stupid," Laurel forced herself to move closer to Olly now, to look him in the eye as she said this. "Because I love you, Oliver Queen, and I needed to know, before I made this decision… what should I do?"

Oliver couldn't deny he wasn't shocked by this outcry, but she had mentioned his and Laurel's first date, he should have seen this coming, and he oddly had his answer prepared for her. "You need time to be you before you let anyone else into your life, Laurel Lance," it was weird saying it, but he supposed he had to get used to calling her that now, "especially a guy who made the worst possible boyfriend for both your namesake, and Felicity Smoak."

"So, you don't…?" Laurel tried to keep herself poised at this.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying you should go to Platinum Flats, find your Laurel Lance and Black Canary before you jump at other chances. It would do you good," he moved a hand to her chin as he spoke, and as she smiled ever so slightly at this, he leaned in and kissed her. Just a peck on the lips but it was enough, and it was familiar to him. It was nice, even. He pulled back. "If you want my blessing, you have it, Miss Lance – and so does Sara," he gave her a wink at this. "I can't wait to see you two kicking ass on the news. Hell, maybe I can even work it into a speech for the city."

"I'd like that." Laurel smiled. "And thanks… for everything. Say hi to Felicity and Thea for me..."

-PowerFlash-

Jesse's eyes fluttered open. She felt like she'd been hit by a truck and then run over by a bulldozer, and was somehow still alive. She moved her head slightly and regretted it as sharp white pain shot through her neck and straight to her brain, causing herself to cry out. There was movement and through the haze she could just make out Kara and Harry looking down at her.

"Vitals are still steady," Caitlin's voice could be heard. "The speed-force is kicking in. It will take time, like when Zoom broke Barry's back but she'll be fine."

"What about Wally?" Joe's voice could be heard, and Jesse could make him out in her peripheral vision.

"He got a more bigger blast of Parasite's radiation, but he's improving," Caitlin responded.

"He'll be fine dad, I know it," Iris's voice punctuated the conversation.

"Jesse?" Harry now added. "Honey?"

"Dad…" Jesse croaked. With every waking moment things were getting clearer and the pain was subsiding.

"My Jesse Quick," Harry added; she could hear him tearing up.

"Please don't, dad… I'm… good," Jesse turned her head to see him properly and he smiled a watery smile as Kara stood off just behind him. "Did we stop Parasite?"

Kara and Harry chuckled as Jesse moved to positon herself on her elbows, to get a better look at her small family. She cautiously turned her head to look out of the glass pane to see the Cortex and frowned. It looked busy in there. Cisco and Stein seemed to be working quietly on the computers but Alex and Lyla were in deep discussion with Ray Palmer, with a woman who looked like Xena joining in. She also recognised Kara's cousin, in his green outfit, talking animatedly to a woman with brown hair. Her attention was pulled back to her dad and sister. "What happened?"

"Maxwell Lord and Lex Luthor," Kara explained. She had told Jesse of her parallel life, all she knew about the people Superman had faced off and Lex Luthor had been mentioned more than once. Jesse groaned. "They got away, their experiments put up a fight but The Justice Society stopped them."

"Justice Society?" Jesse dropped down to her bed and saw Iris and Joe sitting by Wally's bed, listening in.

"A team up, bigger than Team Power-Flash. 'Protectors of this world' sort of thing," Kara explained, taking a perch on Jesse's bed as Harry took up position next to Jesse on the only chair there.

"Sounds cool. Who was in the team besides yourself, Kal and Xena out there?" Jesse smirked.

"Xena is actually Diana Prince. That woman from the department of meta-human affairs," Harry pointed out.

"Seriously?" Jesse looked to her dad now. "You're pulling me."

"No. She's some sort of powerful immortal made by even more powerful beings. A pre-meta-human, maybe. I want to find out more but the situation is tricky," Harry muttered.

"Because she doesn't want to give him a blood sample," Kara supplied with a chuckle. Harry rolled his eyes at Kara, but Jesse laughed. She was feeling so much better now – the speed-force really was healing her up from Parasite's attack. "And Ray, Firestorm and Barry helped the Justice Society," Kara added in afterthought to Jesse's earlier question.

"Hey, where's Powie? Where's Barry come to think of it?" Jesse asked, suddenly slightly worried for her sister's pet and boyfriend.

"Running laps in the pipeline. Barry needs to cool down and thought it would do Powie some good," Kara stated. "After the way Powie's been…"

"I know what's up with her," Jesse pointed out quickly. She'd been thinking about it since the dog had blown up the couch the other night and had come to a conclusion.

"Cat said I needed to talk to a vet and Powie would need regular check-ups…?" Kara supplied.

"She's pregnant, Kara," Jesse sighed. "Powie's pregnant."

"What?!" Kara jumped from the bed at this. "How?"

"Don't tell me we need to tell you about the birds and the bees?" Harry said with a laugh.

"Oh, someone already took care of that," Caitlin said from her spot, a little glint in her eyes. She had not been told exactly why Kara went Earth hopping last month, but it hadn't been hard to find out – especially since it was her idea in the first place to look up a different Kara for advice. Kara gave Caitlin a little glare.

"I mean… how could she be pregnant?" Kara continued forcefully. "She hasn't been near any dogs and we have no idea if a human dog and her would be compatible," but as she talked her mind was turning. "Oh… wait… no…"

"Krypto's the father," Jesse pointed out, seeing Kara's mind turning as she concluded herself, getting a little annoyed with how long it was taking Kara to get to the only possible answer. "You said they'd been close. Well, they got really close too. She's feeling protective over those she loves, and herself, because she doesn't want harm to come to any of them."

"But…" Kara started.

"You were the one to go there for sex tips, sis – it seems Powie and Krypto already knew what to do," Jesse pointed out with a smirk.

"Wait, what? Sex tips?' Harry asked, not having been let in on this.

Kara sighed as she sat back on the bed, ignoring her adoptive father. "Great…! Well, at least Kal's here. He can take her back to Krypton to get the regular check-ups required as I doubt any of Earth's machines can x-ray a Kryptonian's skin. I know nothing could on Karry Earth for their Kara. She said it was a surprise."

"We'll get through this," Harry sighed, pushing aside his shock and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Although… Kryptonian puppies."

Kara smirked now. "Puppies," she muttered happily to herself as Powie and Barry came in. Powie looked tired as she came up to Kara. "You're going to be a mommy!" Kara hugged her dog, but made sure to be careful. Karry Kara's powers were interrupted due to the pregnancy, so it was a good bet that Powie's would be too.

"Wait, what?" Barry asked. "She's… but…. Krypto." Barry sighed, coning to the conclusion much faster than Kara had. Jesse, Harry and Caitlin chuckled at this.

-PowerFlash-

It was a few months later and Sara was patrolling the streets of Platinum Flats alone. She in fact had the northern sector while Laurel, or rather her clone – Sara had to remind herself – took the western; Alex had the south and east, being the leader of this ARGUS operation. They really needed more members, but they were doing okay as a recently-started operation.

It was weird, being in a whole other city after uprooting from Starling and then Central, but she needed this. They all needed it. Laurel for an identity, herself for the freedom away from previous responsibilities and Alex for a fresh start – hell, even Winn had joined them to just get away from it all. Still, they hadn't gained the city's trust yet, unlike their previous homes, but there was time. They'd only been in the Flat's for a few months and it had taken The Flash almost a year to gain Central's trust, and the Arrow even longer for Starling.

It was a quiet night, at least for her sector – Winn was quiet on the communicator, and she suspected distracted with a TV show or chatting up his new man – but this wasn't for long. A familiar blue rip in the fabric of space opened in front of her, and Sara sighed as she waited for Cisco to come through, wondering if this was Vibe's new way of instant transportation.

She was shocked, however, when a different man appeared. He was lank, tanned, had short cropped hair and the hint of stubble; what was more, he was dressed casually and wore no goggles like Vibe – although there was a resemblance.

"White Canary?" The man asked.

"Dante?" Sara tried. She'd never met Cisco's brother, but had heard he was back in Central. Maybe Cisco and his brother were playing games with her?

"Dant...? No, I am not my uncle," the man replied sharply, causing Sara to do a double-take. "You may call me Echo and I need your help."

"Oh no, I've been through this routine before," Sara held up her hands, "a time-traveller came to recruit me and when push came to shove, he abandoned me for a new team. I'm not going to be put through the wringer again." She moved her bo staff threateningly.

"Not even if the universe is at stake?" Echo asked. "One mission, Sara Lance and that's it. All I ask."

"How do you know my name?" Sara countered sharply.

"I know a lot, Miss. Lance and I know you. You won't back away from a fight – it's in your blood. Ever since the League of Assassins took you in," Echo stated.

"What are the stakes?" Sara asked, not even trying to find out how this man knew her history.

"The Multiverse."

 _To be continued in…_ _Sliders: A Millma Verse Mission_ _._

 _POWER GIRL AND THE FLASH WILL RETURN._

* * *

And that's it. The end of this season. It's taken a long time to get here, but I hope the pay-off was good for you all!

I'm not doing proper footnotes to this story like I did for SuperEarth, but I do feel I need to address two issues here and now to clear up the timeline and make reading this posthumously a bit easier so, without further ado…

Power Girl and The Flash Mini-Footnotes.

Timeline – to get an idea of this story, from the beginning all the way to this end, please read between the four stories (SuperEarth, Super Double Karry Universe and Power Girl and The Flash) and the two main shows as such…

01\. Supergirl – the episode 'Worlds Finest' (season 1, episode 18).

02\. SuperEarth – all 3 chapters.

03\. Super Double – all 6 chapters.

04\. The Flash – the latter half of season 2, from 'Verses Zoom' (episode 18) to 'The Race of His Life' (the finale).

05\. Power Girl – Chapters 1 through to 12.

06\. Karry Universe – Chapter 51 ( _When Worlds Collide_ ).

07\. Power Girl – Chapters 13 through to 19.

08\. Karry Universe – Chapter 65 ( _Together Again_ ).

09\. Power Girl – Chapters 20 and 21 (the finale).

10\. Karry Universe – Chapter 73 ( _Puppy Round Up_ ).

Of course, I hope that Power Girl and The Flash is accessible without looking to other stories and the main show, but to get the full experience, this above guide helps.

Also, the actual timeline of the story… Without plotting out exact dates, most of Power Girl is set in 2016 (the first episode is set directly after the season 2 finale, as an example), with the last 'episode' of the year being Green Christmas, set December 24th 2016. After that we move into 2017, with the last scene of this story specifically set in August 2017.

I hope you've enjoyed this story. Please review your opinions and thoughts on how to make the next story even better, and remember to like mine and CharmedMillie – Karry Master's Facebook page, mentioned at the start of the story!

Sigma out!


	22. A Year of Karry Prime

Karry Prime.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, although I do own the idea. Please do not copy.

Facebook: Fanfiction Millma Verse Page.

Note 1: For those unaware, last month was the one year anniversary of this story. Obviously, I missed the date, June 21st, for celebrating the actual day, but I still wanting to bring you guys something – and this one is a whopper. So, in true Millma Verse style, this is an anniversary that both takes you down memory lane and maybe sets up something special. But more on that at the end.

Note 2: When writing this originally, I had forgotten many details from the story (as it has been a while) so there may be inconsistencies within this chapter compared to what's come before. Myself and Millie have tried to cover all bases, but things have been known to slip through the net before.

A Year of Karry Prime,

Or, The Trial of Kal-El and Kara Wells,

a.k.a., A Karry Prime Anniversary.

-Green Lantern's Kal-El's perspective-

Kal-El sat in his quarters, taking some much-needed downtime. It was hard being a Green Lantern at times, but when the alternative was being head of the House of El back on Krypton, he much preferred this lifestyle. It was lucky his younger brother, Gal-El, was more adept at the things like leadership and whatever it took be to the forerunner to their Kryptonian house.

Kal was almost considering calling home, just to check up on things, when he got an alert; one directed for him. Thoughts of Krypton vanished as he moved, grabbing his communicator to receive the message from one of his fellow Lanterns.

"Kal, you're going to want to see this for yourself," the holographic image of his colleague wasted no time.

"What is it?" Kal asked, a little hesitantly.

"We have a former Crucible Academy student here, she claims… well, just come here now, no time wasting," the Lantern instructed, to a nod from Kal as he left his quarters, heading toward the location his colleague had called from.

Entering the room, it was to find several of his green-and-black-cladded colleagues, surrounding a red-headed woman in white. She looked up as he entered the room and smiled, but her attention was moved to one of his female colleagues nearby. Kal moved over to the coworker who had called him.

"You guys seem to have this in order," he muttered under his breath as he glanced at the larger woman. "Why do you need me?"

"Because she has told us something very interesting you will want to hear. We intercepted her teleport from planet Earth," the Lantern explained.

"Earth? That's barely a third-class planet. Look but don't interact. Protect but don't be known," Kal stated, knowing the laws of the Corp well and confused what this had to do with him. He didn't even know anything about the planet.

"Well, they've recently got their own protectors, and not just of their own race," his colleague responded.

"What's this got to do with me?" Kal repeated, getting slightly annoyed now.

"Maxima!" his colleague called to the woman, who glanced his way. "Repeat what you told us."

"The Kryptonian protector of Earth?" Maxima replied levelly, Kal's brow furrowing. She smirked at this. "I smell Kryptonian from lightyears away. I was drawn to this Kryptonian, although without much knowledge of her she was hard to find until I was close. She is paired with a speedster, a man who can run exceptionally well and has friends much smarter than humans should be," she raised her wrist, indicating her bracelet – Kal recognized it as a teleporter from Almerac, a planet he'd only been to twice.

"Her friends, they were able to decipher the coding and sent me away from the planet. Your people, the Corp, intercepted," she explained rationally.

"But a Kryptonian?" Kal stated, curious now. "None of my race have reached that far. We've studied it, of course, and know what type of life lives there, but to go there and be a protector…?"

"Name her," another Lantern stated to Maxima, although her eyes remained on Kal at this.

The next word sent a shiver through Kal's spine. It started him on a mission on life he never expected to go, but one he was glad to have found out about before Krypton did. Because, as Maxima stared at Kal, she muttered the one name he never expected:

"Kara."

-PowerFlash-

It was a few weeks later that Kal-El stood on a planet he had never anticipated he would. Hal Jordan and Alan Scott, the Lanterns of this sector, had taken him on a crash-course of Earth; even introducing him to old heroes still alive, so Kal could get the idea of exactly what his cousin's double was doing on the planet. With Hal's help, he had now homed in on the Kryptonian, along with Maxima's direction, to find her in a place called 'Central City'; he stood incognito in what was apparently called a police station. There was something going on as a man took to a stage to address the gathered crowd, but he wasn't paying attention to the man who dubbed himself a 'lord'.

His eyes found her, finding it impossible to see that face and that young when so used to her as his older cousin. She was barely in her twenties here – she was in her forties on Krypton, but it was the same woman, the same face. Impossible though it was.

A box behind the lord opened, to reveal some sort of robotic red humanoid. His intrigue was only focused when the other Kara spoke out, addressing the lord leading the talk, questioning the robot's name and calling herself 'Kara Wells'. Kal was vaguely aware of how naming worked on Earth, but in the western culture a last name was a family name too, meaning she was of the house of Wells here, whatever that meant.

Then all hell broke loose as the robot gained a sense of sentience and Kal lost Kara in the ensuing panic, but was glad as he slipped from the crowd, taking to the city again to go over what he already knew. Even though he was a Green Lantern, he wasn't going to help with the rogue robot – given the rules protecting the planet from outside influence, plus this wasn't his sector, but if it got too bad, Alan or Hal would step in – but it didn't take him long to find Kara Wells again, following her out of the city to the wastelands beyond. She was dressed in white now, with a blue cape and white mask, and Kal had to wonder what this all meant.

He'd seen superheroes before on other planets, had met some retired ones here recently thanks to Alan and Hal, and people often mistook his profession as a Green Lantern as being a superhero, but this… How did she have the powers to begin with? Was she genetically altered? How had they have obviously got Kara Da-Ver's DNA to make this younger copy of her?

As he was contemplating what this all meant, and how he could tell his Kara back on Krypton all the information he had gathered on this one, it happened. Like an atomic bomb going off in the distance, Kara Wells had exploded with solar radiation. It was a shock he hadn't expected, and wondered if she could survive the blast – somehow, she had powers on this planet, so maybe they could be linked to both the explosion, and her survival?

He watched in anticipation until the light and dust settled and her speedster friend rushed across the cracked earth to find her body. She was intact, if naked and unconscious but definitely alive. Kal watched until the speedster sped her away to wherever they must call base.

Kal stood in contemplative silence for a good few minutes, biting his lip as he decided what he could do next. There was no way this Kryptonian could be kept secret from the Lantern Corp, or indeed the Kryptonian Council, so he had to decide who to tell first…

-PowerFlash-

Kal stood in the large decorative space, back to the door as he waited for head of the council. He was nervous, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like he knew the younger Kara on Earth, but she was doing good, saving people judging from what she had done when he had seen her. He had considered asking the Corp to let her join them, just to be safe, but someone needed to know first. For better or worse.

A young canine with dark yellow fur yapped as she ran to Kal, who turned and grinned as Pow-E began to sniff at his feet, wagging her tail. He was used to this – she was a very affectionate pet, although a slight bane on her mother, who came trotting obediently behind her pup, at the heels of her mistress.

"Kal-El," Kara Da-Ver smiled at her younger cousin. "Nice to see you again." She moved over and pulled him into a hug as she spoke.

Once they pulled out of the embrace, she moved passed her cousin to the large desk against the far wall, leaning on it as Pal-E, her actual pet, took position by her feet, glaring at her pup who was still circling the amused Kal. This wasn't the behavior a canine should express at this age, Kal knew, but he still loved the attention.

"I don't come with great news though," Kal sighed, moving slightly closer to his cousin, but kept his distance. "There's been a… situation on one of our planets in the distant quadrant."

"How does that affect Krypton?" Kara raised her eyebrow at this, instantly on the mark.

"It doesn't. It affects us, our family," Kal stated.

"How?" Kara's eyebrows furrowed.

"There's an unknown… well, she's a Kryptonian on the planet Earth," Kal stated, straight to the point.

"So? Someone left. So long as they don't make themselves known…" Kara stated, referencing one of their laws about Kryptonians leaving the planet – so long as they didn't make their alien presence known on other worlds, it didn't matter where they went, especially planets like Earth where the inhabitants were still very superstitious about beings from other worlds.

"They're you," Kal stated. "Literally you."

"I don't…?" Kara started, Pal-E whining from her spot by her mistress, knowing her owner was getting inpatient and worried.

"Here…" Kal produced his ring, which itself produced a holographic image of the girl he had managed to take, in costume, fighting one of the red robots.

"Oh," Kara muttered, her eyes wide now. "That is me. Younger, but me. What do we know of her?"

"Not much," Kal muttered. "She goes by the title 'Kara Wells' and it appears she has superpowers. She's being a superhero there, but I have no idea of her origins, however it's possible." He had been trying to figure it out since he had left the planet. How could she exist?

Kara seemed lost in the image, thinking as she decided what to do next. Kal allowed her the time as Pow-E lay her head down by her mother, who kept to attention by her mistress's side. Finally, Kara spoke up.

"I think a solution to this would be to bring her to Krypton," she stated slowly, still looking at the image.

"Do you think that wise?" Kal asked quietly.

"It's either that or this goes to trial – you know our laws about Kryptonians making themselves known on primitive planets. She could well be executed for making such a show of herself," Kara was all business, despite how personal this could be.

"I thought you may say something like that. I don't know if either option works. We know nothing about how she came to be or if she knows the laws. She can't be punished for breaking laws she doesn't know about. And taking her away to a planet she may not know could be troublesome." Kal nodded solemnly, "but I do have a third option for you."

"Speak it," Kara instructed, not waiting for pleasantries now.

"Let her stay. She's doing good and has friends on Earth. Friends who might not let her go so easily. The Lantern Corp can over watch her and keep the people of the planet safe in case of the worst," Kal had been thinking it over ever since he'd seen her in the flesh. He had yet to bring her up with his bosses back at the Corp, but if he held himself personally accountable for her, they would trust him to keep the planet safe with, and from, her.

"This is a lot for a complete stranger," Kara spoke.

"She's not a stranger though," Kal moved forward, causing Pow-E to raise her head now. "She's you. A younger version and maybe blonder, but you without doubt."

"Kal…" Kara stated, biting her lip again as she looked at the image of the white-cladded her. "Okay," she finally sighed. "Worst case scenario, we bring her back to Krypton – at best mom and I can bend some rules, maybe bring her into the House of El for close observation – but should a decision be made to keep her at distance, then you need to watch over her. Bring it up with the Corp."

Kal grinned at this, unsure why he felt the need to keep this strange other version of Kara safe but knowing in his heart it was the right thing to do. Maybe it was because of the face. He remembered her at that age. The young woman just getting into her careers but always there for him. She had taken care of him when his parents were busy. Taught him things. Shared secrets. That face was connected to a lot of good memories and now a stranger was bringing up those memories.

"I need to bring this up with the high officials on a decision," Kara continued. "We can avoid a trial if I plead to them our terms, as she is… well, me. But Kal, you do realize what this means if you get your way?" Kara wasn't just a pretty face when given a speech by anyone. Kara Da-Ver was one of the wisest people on Krypton and she had seen what Kal's plan meant right away.

"That I will eventually have to move sectors to keep a more watchful eye on her, seeing you all less?" Kal spoke as monotonously as possible. Kara bowed her head at this, causing Pal-E to whine as she felt her mistress's sadness. "I was never one for Kryptonian tradition. Gal-El is doing better than I ever would under dad's tutelage. Of course, I'll miss you lot but… you know how I like adventure, a changeup occasionally."

"Well, as long as this changeup brings you back home eventually, I think we can deal," Kara forced confidence at this, and Kal smiled at her.

"Well, until a decision is made by the Kryptonian officials, I need to have words with the Corp – they can't do anything now that I've gone above them to you. Kara Wells will be safe for the time being," Kal stated.

"Will you tell her?" Kara Da-Ver asked, genially curious now. "Will you seek her out?"

Kal paused for a moment, deciding on this. He hadn't given that part a thought until now. "No," he decided. "Let her live her life. I can get Alan or Hal to look over her for the moment, as Earth is their sector, to keep me updated on anything else this Kara could do."

"Very well. Wise decision. We don't know what she knows either." Kara nodded. She moved forward, Pal-E immediately following her mistress who walked around her cousin. "Rao be with you, my cousin," Kara stated, nodding as she now moved to the doors, her mind a whirl of what to do next.

"And you," Kal responded as Pow-E licked his hand before trotting after her mother and mistress. Kal smiled at the three before sighing to himself. His superiors weren't going to like this.

-PowerFlash-

"You're taking this very personally," Rami, Kal's boss – a sexless, genderless, humanoid figure with pale, almost translucent skin – spoke. "We may be intergalactic police, but this is a matter for the Krypton Council, not the Corp."

"I was hoping I could encompass this Kara under my protection. Krypton has rules about our race so far from home… I don't even know how she has powers," Kal avoided the point of Rami's main enquiry.

"The yellow sun," Rami supplied. "It gives radiation that allows beings born or raised under red starlight extraordinary powers."

"Then why didn't I get them when on Earth?" Kal asked, confused now.

"The Power Ring," Rami motioned toward the Power Ring on Kal's finger. "It protects you from all forms of radiation – including those that may give you extra powers. I suspect the moment you take the ring off, particularly if you allow the transference of power, you would gain those abilities too. But, Kal-El, why did you promise Kara Da-Ver your personal protection over her unknown double?"

"It's… complicated," Kal sighed, not able to avoid this question now, but intrigued as to what these yellow sun powers could mean for him.

"We have time," Rami sighed.

"Kara… my Kara that is… she's always been protective of me," he chose his words carefully. "She saw the potential I had to become a Lantern in her place, and has always been there for me like a big sister. I never get the chance to return the favor – she doesn't want to know, happy to always be there for me – but I want to… I need to…" Kal let his words fade at this.

"Kara Da-Ver isn't letting you return her kindness in a way you want, so you're transferring this kindness onto the other Kara?" Rami supplied, and Kal smiled minutely at this. "I understand. You need to find out more."

"Excuse me?" Kal raised an eyebrow at this.

"To know what you need to protect, you must first find out all you can about that treasure," Rami stated with wisdom. "Only then can you know how to proceed further, and indeed, how Kara Da-Ver can proceed with her own enquiry."

"You're right," Kal nodded. "I should visit her. I'm allowed to?"

"You may find what you seek from Kara Wells. But know two things Kal El: She goes by Power Girl when being a hero on that planet – you're not the only on intrigued by her. Alan Scott has done his own research," Rami started, smirking at this alone.

"And the other?" Kal asked.

"Don't involve the Corp. Not yet. Tell her about Maxima, yes, but leave the Corp out of this. If you must, tell her that the Kryptonian Council needed to know more," Rami stated.

"Any reason why the sudden secrecy?" Kal asked.

"Earth is a primitive planet, free from the Corp's influence. They may be gaining powerful creatures but we cannot interfere as yet. Of course, Kara Wells can know about Krypton – after all, it's her home planet, her legacy, but there is simply no need to let her, or her associates, know of the Corp. Good day, Kal-El," that was it. Rami has dismissed him.

"Very well," Kal muttered, nodding as he moved off. "I shall inform Kara Da-Ver first though."

"Tell her what you need to. Good day, Kal-El." Rami repeated.

-PowerFlash-

Alan Scott had been a great help in fashioning Kal clothing for the planet, especially for the city he was visiting Kara Wells in. But after that, Kal was on his own.

Still, it hadn't been hard to track down Kara Wells' home in Central City – he had been to the city before, albeit unnoticed by all, to see her take on the red robots with help of her speedster allies. Finding her home was remarkably easy. Now he stood by the front door of what was called an 'apartment', with his knuckles only inches from the door.

He could hear her inside. She was talking to another woman, but her voice… it was slightly lighter than his Kara's, but it was the same. He had to know how. How she had come to be? He rapped on the door with his knuckles.

A second later it opened and he saw her up close and personal, momentarily shocked at how close to his Kara she genuinely looked like, but he pulled himself together as he nevertheless asked tentatively: "Kara… Wells?"

"Yes?" this Kara replied, equally as tentatively. She had a look on her face that Kal knew instantly – she knew who he was. Somehow. She knew him, which meant she knew Krypton.

"I think we need to talk," Kal cut to the chase.

"I think we do," Kara confirmed, she sounded excited, although Kal didn't know why.

"Kara?" a dark-haired woman asked by a decimated pine tree against the window. Kal acknowledged her momentarily as Kara closed the door behind him and he moved into the room.

"Kal-El. How is this possible?" Kara Wells definitely knew him. He didn't know how to respond to that other than a retaliating question:

"How do you know who I am?" He asked her shocked.

"Forget that. How are you here?" Kara pushed passed his enquiry, and Kal couldn't help but laugh at their familial back and forth – it was the same as his Kara.

"Who is this, Kara?" the other woman spoke, still by the tree but looking cautiously at him now. He didn't know how to indicate to her that he meant no harm, but also didn't want her around. He wanted a one-on-one with Kara Wells. "And why do I feel like I've met him before?"

"He's my cousin," Kara stated, keeping her eyes on Kal-El, even though she was addressing the other woman.

"Your cousin? You mean…?" the girl's voice dropped as Kal looked between Kara and her with a raised eyebrow, not knowing either how Kara Wells knew him, or how the other woman could have. "Superman?" She gasped, causing Kal to scoff at the ridiculous name. He'd never heard that one before!

"I've never been called that in my life," Kal couldn't help but chuckle at this. What type of name was that? 'Power Girl' was unusual enough, let alone 'Superman'.

"Not in this universe more like," Kara spoke before the girl could, causing Kal to tense up. The wording seemed to make it obvious: Another universe. Kryptonian scientists had done research into the multiverse, they had already come to terms with other universes out there, even if they couldn't touch them. Something was beginning to make sense. "Please. Take a seat. We both have some explaining to do," Kara continued, indicated the soft elongated seat beside her. He didn't question as he sat down.

Again, he looked to the tree and the various ornaments scattered about, bewildered by the whole thing. "This is an Earth tradition? The tree and lights?" Kal asked, trying for small talk now.

"It's called Christmas," the other woman stated defensively as Kara took a seat next to Kal. Something clicked in Kal's head though at the name, remembering something Hal and Alan mentioned they missed celebrating when away from the planet.

"Oh. Hal mentioned it once to me. A Western tradition if I remember," Kal mused.

"Forget Christmas," Kara stated quickly, to a gasp from the other woman, "how did you find me? How can you?" Kara implored to Kal. He thought he would be the one asking the questions, but she had completely pulled a one eighty on him.

"Maxima," Kal stated, but he paused. Rami had specifically instructed him not to involve the Lantern Corp in this one, so he had to make up something that sounded believable. Kara Wells seemed to know who he was… she must know about Krypton and her home planet. It was worth a shot…

"The Kryptonian High Council discovered her visit to Earth wasn't innocent," he started in one breath, the lie sounding convincing, even to him, "that she had discovered a Kryptonian there. They did research, they questioned Maxima and none could believe what they heard… especially since Kara Zor-El is now Leader of the Council."

"I'm heading the council?" Kara breathed at that. Kal raised an eyebrow at this question. The wording to it seemed unusual. An origin of another universe seemed more and more logical, but the age still did not make sense to him.

"Also married with children herself," Kal continued, intrigued to see how Kara Wells took this news. "She goes by Kara Da-Ver now, but that's beside the point. You see, upon realizing that younger copy of herself was here, she asked me to find out more." That one was true at least. After he'd left Rami, he had returned to Krypton, told Kara about Power Girl, and got her blessing to visit Kara Wells. It was why he was here.

"And you're what? Head of the Kryptonian CIA?" Kara asked.

"CIA?" Kal countered, having no clue what she meant by this reference.

"A government organization… oh, never mind. Continue," Kara waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm part of an intergalactic corporation entrusted with protecting the universe. Kara Da-Ver is… a friend of that corporation." Kal supplied, trying to keep the name of the Corp out of this.

"You're a Lantern?" Kara breathed.

"How do you know about Lanterns?" Kal asked sharply, surprised she knew about them as well as Krypton. How did she know all this? Did Lanterns exist in other universes, and if so, how was she still so young and why was she on Earth instead of Krypton? At least he didn't flat out tell her. Rami couldn't judge him for giving the game away already.

"When I was younger..." Kara removed her eyes from Kal now as she looked to her friend. "A vicious gang came after me. My mom had locked their leader up in Fort Rozz for crimes I never found out about; they thought that by taking me, mom would release him. I actually still remember the making the recording, begging my mom to save me."

Kal took a shocked breath at this. He knew the story. Fellow Kryptonian Green Lantern, Ha-Pri was a Lantern at the time; he had saved Kara from this gang, had promised her upon her release that she had the quality of a Lantern, that she could one day be one. For Kal, she had. After Astra had died, Kara had taken the Ring upon herself to finish Astra's work before passing it on to Kal. How was this possible it happened in another universe, with another Kara?

"There was no time to get the leader out of Fort Rozz, or at least not in the timescale the gang gave her." Kara was saying, but Kal wasn't listening. "I thought I was going to be sent to Rao – not that I truly understood death at such a delicate age – but when it all looked bleak, when death seemed imminent… All I remember was a green light. A Green Lantern. He had saved me. He took me away from that bad place, I was indebted to him."

"Maxima," Kal muttered, trying to move the conversation on, when Kara had finished her explanation. "She said you were fighting for Earth, that you had powers of your own." Kara nodded to this.

"One thing doesn't make sense though," had to speak his mind about this. After all, his visit here was for research; he needed to know everything about this Kara.

"What's that?" Kara asked.

"That's the exact same story Kara Da-Ver has. It's why she was offered my position when it became available. She declined it, in favor of the Council." Slight bend in truth, but he didn't want to tell this Kara everything.

"She was offered to become a Green Lantern?" Kara asked, avoiding Kal's statement for the moment.

"Indeed. She didn't want the position after she was forced to take it, so she suggested me – her little cousin – to the Corp and they accepted the changeup," Kal nodded. "So, how are there two Kara's in this universe, one obviously a lot younger than the one from home?" He had to know.

"I'm…" Kara paused, glancing to the other woman as Kal held his breath. "I'm a clone. It's a long story involving super-powered humans called meta-humans and parallel words," Kara stated, shocking Kal into momentary silence.

"Her boyfriend's a meta-human speedster who sped into another universe where there was a Kara, a real one, on that Earth," the other woman spoke now, still glaring at Kal, "he brought back a hair which a meta-human, who could duplicate living things cloned her from. Fast-forward a few months and said boyfriend and Kara went back to that Earth and gained that Kara's memories through alien tech."

Boyfriend…? A partner? Kal knew what this meant. Was a clone capable, though? She obviously cared for the other person.

"You have a mate on this Earth?" Kal now questioned. "Just how Kryptonian are you…?" Kal leaned forward in his seat now. If she had the bond, would she tell Kal?

"As Kryptonian as I'll ever be," Kara shrugged, "And no, not a mate… well, not exactly –"

"If you say 'it's complicated' to me, I will kick you out!" The other girl snapped now as she addressed Kal head on with the next statement: "They're an item, Mr. El. The biggest will-they/won't-they since Ross and Rachel."

"Ross and…?" Kal glanced between Kara and the other girl now in confusion.

"Pop culture," Kara sighed, even this going over his head as she persisted: "I think your friend Hal would be able to help with that one. Okay, let's stop beating about the bush. I've told you my story, now it's your turn. Tell me all you know, more particularly on how you found me." She folded her arms.

"It wasn't that difficult to be honest," Kal shrugged, wondering if he should tell her he had spied on her before. That explosion in the wasteland. That speedster. Oh. That speedster was her mate, wasn't he? That one started to make sense to him as he spoke aloud: "I knew where you were – Central City – and I knew you went by 'Kara' and 'Power Girl' thanks to Maxima and my boss, but obviously that was where the trail ended."

"Hal found there was one Kara in Central City, working for Cat Co Media, who created the persona of 'Power Girl' – it was all too easy." That was true – it was how he had discovered her the first time. Now came the fun bit: How he found her current abode: "Kara Wells recently moved into a new place with her father; this place. And here I am…" Kal sat back, smirking at that one.

"Well that answered one question. Now, why are you here?" Kara asked.

"Are you kidding me?" The other girl seemed annoyed that Kara hadn't worked it out by now, and Kal was a little suspicious she hadn't either. "Kara, I love you but you can be stupid sometimes. Maxima obviously alerted this Kryptonian Council of one of their own so far from home when she couldn't bed you. Kal even said his Kara asked him personally to find you. I assume this Council has something to say about unregistered Kryptonians so far away from home?" This she directed to Kal.

"Indeed. Kara Da-Ver doesn't want to let her double do anything she – that is to say you – doesn't want to do, Kara Wells. But I can't guarantee that you'll be allowed to live on this planet for long unless the Council agree in favor to keep you here," he knew the consequences – his Kara had explained them to him earlier, but this Kara wouldn't know that.

Kara frowned at this, before she sighed and replied: "The universe where my DNA comes from," she said, a little slowly now, "where my memories also come from… that Krypton was destroyed." This shocked him as Kal gazed at Kara in shock. How was this possible? "Your mother and father sent you away from the planet before it went up in flames; I was to be your guardian. My parents did all they could to get me off that Krypton, to follow my Kal-El to their chosen destination and raise him. To teach him."

She stood now, pacing in front of Kal as she continued, "I failed. Or at least that Kara did. Oh, Kal survived – he was raised by a nice couple in Kansas; his name was even changed to Clark – but I was trapped in the Phantom Zone, frozen in time until Brainiac 8 released me and Fort Rozz from that place. When I finally landed on Earth my Kal had grown up to become a superhero and a stranger, to fight in the name of Krypton and El without really knowing what it meant."

She stopped in front of Kal now as she looked directly at him; he was processing this information. "I have no Kal on this Earth, I have no blood relatives on this planet, but I have family and I have friends, I have a reason to fight and a house to fight for. Sure, Power Girl's symbol, her mantra, isn't as prominent as the Supergirls of other Earths, but damnit I fight for El as much as I fight for Wells and for my friends. I do not want to leave this planet, even if it means returning to Krypton. I may have memories of my home world, of the yellow grass and my dad's firm grip but they aren't mine. My home is Earth and no-one from Krypton or beyond is going to take that away from me!"

The speech was so eerily like things Kara Da-Ver had said to the Kryptonian council, that Kal couldn't help but smirk back at this Kara as he finally stood. He had to remember that one, to tell his Kara in this Kara's defense. "I think you've said your piece Kara Wells." Kal stated, knowing where to go from here. "I shall relay this to my Kara and undoubtedly will return with a result sooner rather than later."

"I won't leave without a fight," Kara added as Kal moved around the couch and back to the door.

"My Kara would say the same thing." Kal stated truthfully. "You may be an alternative, parallel version of my cousin, but you are her right down to the temper. I can't wait to meet you again soon." Kal grinned as he opened the door and left the apartment. Taking a momentary breath to take this information in before he activated his ring – his suit faded as the Lantern outfit replaced it.

In a flash of green light, he vanished from the Wells threshold.

-PowerFlash-

Kal appeared back in Kara Da-Ver's office, expecting to be expected. He glanced around a moment, realizing he was alone and was about to depart, to find out where she was, when a voice called out from the antechamber of the room: "Kal-El?"

A woman, with greying hair and handsome features came into the main room, smiling at Kal as he smirked back. "Aunt Alura," he bowed his head slightly smiling. It had been a long time since he had seen his Aunt.

"It's good to see you. Kara and I… well, she's informed me of her other self on Sol 3," Alura moved into the room properly to give him a hug, which he reciprocated. It was thanks to Aunt Alura's influence too that he had become a Green Lantern, after her sister had died on duty – the ring had passed on to Kara, who quickly gave it on to Kal, who had taken the job on with great passion. He owed Alura for taking him out of the running for running the house of El. As much as he liked being of the house, he'd never fancied taking over the role once his father, the eldest of the two El patriarchs, passed. Now Gal-El was living up to the title, and Kal was happy for his little brother.

"Earth," Kal corrected his aunt. "They, and we, call it Earth."

"Nevermind that – what did you find out about her?" Alura wanted to know more, and Kal wanted to tell, but he had intended to tell Kara Da-Ver this first.

"Where's Kara?" Kal countered, just to make sure.

"Attending a meeting. Something about the Harvesters," Alura frowned.

"Threatening an attack again?" Kal sighed.

"Only a matter of time. Diplomacy usually wins though. So, this other Kara, what's she like? How did she come to be?" Alura was desperate.

"I'm not sure…" Kal started.

"She's my daughter," Alura folded her arms in defense. "Kara showed me the picture. It was like going back in time to my Kara as a young woman. Precisely the same Kara," Alura persisted and Kal could see passion in her eyes. She wanted to know about this other Kara. It had been a while since he had seen his aunt so passionate. She had long ago retired from being a judge – remaining one of the longest running judges in Krypton's history, but the job took its toll and when Zor had died long ago, her passion for it had drained. She had remained for a bit before retiring and concentrating on being a grandmother, but even that seemed dull. It seemed this new Kara was giving Alura back some of the passion she had when younger.

Kal smirked at this. "That's true. She's got our Kara's fire in her, she's got her drive, and she has a passion for her family, just like our Kara."

"Her family?" Alura paused now seeming uncertain.

"She's been taken in by the house of Wells on Earth. She has a sister and a father, from my understanding. I never found out either of their names though," Kal shrugged at this.

"If we take her away from all that…" Alura muttered, thoughtfully before looking up at Kal. "I have seriously considered it. The council want to terminate her existence, but we Els have sway there, Kara's pleading to keep her on the planet, under our protection. I'm willing…" Kal could hear in her voice a longing for this daughter.

"It would be better if she could stay on Earth," Kal pointed out to his aunt, biting his lip now in thought. He didn't want to take passion away from his Aunt again, but he did not want to move Kara Wells either. Maybe a visit one way or the other could work. Either Kara Wells visiting Krypton, or Alura visiting Earth. Depending on how this trial worked out, of course.

"Kara told me what would happen if that was the result," Astra looked at Kal in the eyes at this. "She'll miss you. Gal would miss you. We all will."

"I would be moving sectors, not leaving permanently," Kal kept Alura's gaze at this.

"Still, it wouldn't be the same…" at this moment the door opened and a canine came bounding through, tail wagging as she leapt on Kal, who chuckled as he only just kept his balance.

"Pow-E!" Kara Da-Ver called as another canine barked authoritatively and Pow-E obeyed, landing on all four paws, although still wagging her tail and panting energetically at Kal's feet.

"Kal, I'm glad you're here," Kara now stated, smiling at her cousin. "Mother, sorry to have kept you waiting…"

"It's fine," Alura waved her daughter off. "I think my thing can wait. Kal has important information on you-know-who." Alura winked at her daughter, who sighed but smiled. "I'll take Pow-E out for a walk – she could do with expelling her energies."

"Thanks," Kara nodded to her mother, who moved over and kissed her daughter on the cheek before calling to the canine. She and Pow-E left as Kara moved around to her desk and took a seat, leaning forward as Kal moved over to the desk himself. Pal-E took position by the desk, although her eyes remained on the door to where her pup had just left.

"Well?" Kara asked, arching her arms and resting her head on her fingers.

"She's rooted," Kal-El confirmed simply, to a frown and a nod from Kara.

"What about her though? How did she come to be?" Kara now asked, leaning forward, waiting for her cousin to give her more news.

"She's a copy." Kal explained, wanting to give Kara all the information he could. She frowned at this, knowing how this information alone would sway the council – not in a good way. He persevered, regardless. "What made her was DNA from a parallel universe. A universe where you and I went to Earth for our own safety," he didn't quite want to go into detail, still processing the fact that somewhere out there was a universe that no longer had a Krypton. True, as a Green Lantern, he didn't live on Krypton anymore, but it was nice to know it was out there when he needed it. "That DNA made its way to this universe and this Earth where her mate managed to get it cloned and she was the result."

"She has a mate?" Kara now sat up, staring indignantly at Kal.

"According to her sister, they're mates. I do not know if they have bonded though – I never asked." He hadn't wanted to ask truthfully, even though the thought had crossed his mind for a moment.

"She has a sister too?" Kara stood, Pal-E yapping at the sudden movement as Kara maneuverer around the desk to come face-to-face with Kal now. She ignored the bonded reference now; while she loved her husband, they had only managed the beginning of the bond after years together, which was strange for two high Kryptonians, although not unheard of. They had considered the tradition of forced-bonding, but had decided against it after a long heart-to-heart, not to mention influence from her mother, who had lost her bonded twin sister and still felt the pain of this loss, not wanting Kara to go through it, should Da-Ver die prematurely.

"A human family, yes." Kal responded, feeling as if he was repeating himself as he had just told Alura this, "A father and a sister, she has friends and this mate too. Like I said, she's rooted. She refuses to leave the planet, even if it means coming back here to stay," Kal shrugged. "She has memories too from another you – she knows the values of Krypton, of our birth house, but even then, she doesn't want to come. It would be a fight if the Council really wanted her to come here permanently. Or worse."

"You will have to face them with me," Kara suddenly stated, putting a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "If I know me, she's as suborn as Astra was, as my mother still is. I wouldn't want to move her unless absolutely necessary. She is not causing trouble as this 'Power Girl', is she?"

"No. She's helping Earth. She is a hero of that world. It would be a loss to many if Kara was removed," Kal confirmed.

"Come. We need to plan." She steered Kal around before stopping by the door. "Pal-E," she turned to look at her canine, "stay and guard." Pal-E barked pleasantly at this before standing to attention. Kara grinned at her pet momentarily before she and Kal left the office.

-PowerFlash-

It was decided, along with a few other finer details, but this time Kal was feeling good about himself, rather than apprehensive, as he stood on the threshold of the Wells apartment and once again knocked on the plastic door. He didn't need to wait long as a man in his forties, with black hair and horned-rimmed spectacles opened the door to pause at Kal's appearance.

"Hello?" the man started as Kal smiled politely. He had since learned of the name of patriarch of the Wells house.

"Harrison Wells? I'm a, err… friend of Kara and Jesse's here," Kal started.

"That depends on what the Council have decided," the girl – Kara's sister – called out quickly from within the large room beyond. "It's Christmas Eve, man – you could at least have waited until January to do this!"

"To do what? Kara? What's going on?" a young pale attractive man now asked from behind Harrison.

"Can I come in? The snow is rather heavy," Kal asked, indicating the snow falling around him. Harrison nodded as he stood aside and allowed Kal entry to the family space.

"Well then?" Kara now stated, taking the lead as she moved forward to Kal before her sister could say anything else incriminating.

"I'll cut to the chase, Miss. Wells. The Council have agreed and it's a sixty-to-forty win of you staying," Kal couldn't help but grin as he said this.

"Staying? What…? Honey?" Harrison now asked, looking pale as he glanced between Kal and Kara.

"Did they not tell you?" Kal asked, frowning at Kara's father. "The Kryptonian Council sent me a few weeks ago to assess Kara's situation of being here." He explained, continuing the lie that the council was the one who had sent him. There was no reason to tell the truth now. "Her presence was unauthorized, and after much debate, even words from Kara Da-Ver herself, like I said, the Council voted on her to stay here."

"What?!" the young man now rounded on Kal, surprising the Lantern. "There was never any question of her leaving! She's part of this world, this city, of us and Team Power-Flash! You were not going to take her. Kara, why didn't you tell us?" He now turned to Kara as Kal easily connected the dots – this was Barry Allen, her mate. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you…" Kara muttered, Kal unsure how she was taking this information herself.

"We've got to work on our communication skills…" Barry muttered as he grabbed her hands tightly. "But I'm glad you're staying. What would have happened to her if she'd been sent back?" Barry now looked to Kal, who was frowning at the couple now. It was odd seeing Kara with someone who wasn't Da-Ver. They didn't even look alike, Barry and Da-Ver, for one. How any version of his cousin was with this man seemed strange.

"Without my Kara's and Alura's influence, her very genome could have been unraveled, to remove such a copy from existence." Kal explained. He wanted to give them a potted explanation of the council's decision, so she knew exactly what trouble her existence was for Krypton. "We've had bad experiences with cloning for many years. A scientist cloned himself some decades back, but the copy had no mind. It killed his daughter. Cloning is illegal on Krypton now," He paused as Kara gasped at this, but he held up his hands to ease her.

"But with my Kara's and Alura's influence things would have been different for you. Alura would have claimed you as a daughter and a member of the house of El. My Kara, Kara Da-Ver, would have been a big sister. With this influence, my Kara would have been allowed to keep you under her own watch, to be taught Kryptonian ways… in time you would have been accepted into society as an individual with strong ties to the Leader of the Council. In fact, this was the exact last plans member of the council who wanted you back on Krypton suggested. They could see Kara would not let you be destroyed and no one wants to cross Kara."

"I'm glad I never asked before," Kara muttered, a thoughtful, even distracted look on her face now. Barry's grip on her hand tightened, however.

"She's okay though?" Barry asked Kal now. "She can stay? Why was this even a concern though? She wasn't doing anything wrong here."

"She wasn't, I agree, but the Council can be –" Kal started.

"Stuffy, upper-class tossers with nothing better to do with their lives than put others to shame and hell?" Kara's sister supplied darkly – although Kal had to secretly agree; it was nice being free of Krypton himself, even if that meant being a Green Lantern.

"Pretty much," Kal confirmed. "Although not Kara. She's trying to modernize the thing. Make them a little more lenient to outside influence. Following in the footsteps of her mother."

"Wait. Hold up." Kal hadn't noticed the dark man, roughly the same age as the rest, until he moved over from the dining table to the gathered group. "There's a Kara on your Krypton who's head of this upper-class Council thing?"

"Yes," Kal nodded, frowning at the other man. He had no idea who he was or why this was such a surprise to the man.

"How old is she?" this remark caused Kara to hit the man on the arm, but he ignored the contact as he looked directly at Kal, waiting for his answer. Kal understood now. The age difference for why he was confused over this Kara being so young was working in reverse. This man did not know what Kara's true age should be.

"Old enough to know things need to change," Kal decided to reply, a little smirk on his face. He instantly liked this guy's attitude. "Speaking of which…" Kal pulled from a hidden pocket a teleport bracelet, similar to the one Maxima had worn – this caused Kara to stiffen up quickly again but he didn't notice as he focused, moving some of the charm-like objects together, breaking another in half and then twisting another until it looked like it was in danger of coming off entirely, but instead, the bracelet glowed. "It's nearly Christmas here and my Kara has a present for you, Miss. Wells," as he finished his sentence, something appeared at his heel.

It had been agreed before Kal left to give her the all-clear. It was a heart-wrenching decision, but both Kara Da-Ver and Pal-E had agreed to it – Pow-E could reside on Earth with Kara Wells. The canine was close to her Kara, and just as close to Kal, and if Kal was indeed moving to this sector to keep an eye on Kara Wells, it made sense to have the canine here, after all.

"Kara gave me a dog?" Kara Wells vocalized as she dropped to her knees to look at the usually hyperactive dog, who remained timidly behind Kal as she looked at all the unfamiliar faces.

"She's a Yellow Med. Like her mother," Kal stated softly now, leaning down awkwardly to give the canine a stroke, to coax her out of her shell a bit. "She's bonded with my Kara, but needed to be removed from the nest sooner rather than later. My Kara thought this was the best compromise. She's almost two in Earth years," he grinned over at Kara, who wasn't quite listening as she stroked the dog's mussel, the canine growling softly in pleasure as she moved slowly over to Kara Wells.

She recognized her mistress in Kara, even if this Kara didn't seem quite right. She was right enough though, so she kept close to Kara as the younger Kryptonian now asked Kal: "What's her name?"

"Pow," Kal smiled.

"Appropriate" Jesse stated by Kara's side as she fussed the dog, too. "It's the start of 'Power', so a nice name," she explained to Kal's confused expression.

"She's from the house of 'E' like her mother, so her full name is Pow-E," Kal continued, being patient now, even though he could tell Kara wasn't completely listening to him. He chuckled though as the dog wagged her tail at her full name being used.

"Dogs have houses too? How did I not know this?" Kara glanced to Jesse as she asked this question.

"Maybe there were no dogs on your particular Krypton?" Jesse suggested.

"They were scientifically created nearly five decades ago on my Krypton; there's very few of them about." Kal explained, Jesse's theory making sense to him. "Pal-E, her mother, was given to my Kara as a gift for making it to the Council Leader position. She was paired with a male of similar breed and had six children, all but Pow-E left the nest a year ago. It's considered unhealthy on Krypton for one of the… dogs, did you call them? For them to stay with their mother for too long." Kal finished.

"Unhealthy but not wrong, right?" Kara asked, suddenly concerned. Kal could see where this sudden worry stemmed from.

"Pal-E, Pow-E and Kara all agreed that it was for the best," Kal stated, giving some sense to Kara's concerns. "They're highly intelligent beings. Pow-E will be just as happy here as she was at home with her original mistress." She already seemed less energetic; maybe being away from her mother was a blessing in disguise for this canine.

"I should give you a gift!" Kara stated, suddenly worried. "It's only right. You've given me a freaking dog, assured me of my freedom, and I have nothing!" Kal raised his hand now in confusion, not exactly sure what this exchanging gifts thing was for. Alan Scott had explained Christmas to him briefly the other day, but Kal hadn't completely grasped the whole thing yet.

"I was going to give it to Kara tomorrow, but she can wait a few days for me to get another. Please," Jesse spoke, snatching something small from under the decimated tree and handed it to Kal, who looked at the finely wrapped present with curiosity. Opening it, he pulled out a small chain and on it, was the gold-plated House of El's symbol. "Power Girl merchandise is getting popular and as that's her symbol…" Jesse explained as Kal took it in.

Kara had Jesse in a hug before her sister could react and Kal smiled appreciatively at the gift. "Never have I seen my house on an item of jewelry before. It's… special." Kal stated with a smile.

"Think of it as a positive sentiment of your friends here on Earth," Jesse added, softly now.

"What exactly are you though?" Harrison now spoke up. Kal turned to look at him, cocking his head in confusion. "I've never seen that insignia before," Harrison indicated the Lantern emblem on his chest.

"Oh. I'm a Green Lantern, sir, a guardian of the universe," Kal supplied politely, realizing what Kara's father meant.

"You don't say…" Barry spoke up thoughtfully, Kal turning to look at him now. "Are there more of you?"

"A whole league of us. Many colors too, but the green ones are the ones who protect. And yes, we come from a wide range of planets. A man called Hal Jordan comes from this planet." Kal explained briefly, deciding to give away the more experienced of the two human Green Lantern names instead of both.

"We have a Green Lantern and no-one told Cisco?" Jesse now asked Barry, who laughed at this, although the reference went above Kal's head now.

"Tell him to pop over from time to time, and yourself too," Barry decided, addressing Kal now. "We could use 'guardians of the universe' against some of the baddies we face. Just don't come here with bad news." He glanced to Kara.

"No more bad news from me," Kal stated with a smile, pocketing the present. "I should really leave now though, before I outstay my welcome."

"Wait," Kara now stated, Pow-E by her heel now. "Do you not have powers? I mean, like I do? I mean, I guess you have the powers of a Green Lantern, but I thought with our yellow sun…?" Instantly Kal envisioned seeing this Kara exploding in solar energies. He didn't have any desire to do that himself.

"I have not been on this planet long enough to get those powers, Kara," Kal decided, putting a hand on her shoulder now. He didn't even know if he could, with the Green Lantern ring providing him with powers regardless. Rami had said something about it, but he couldn't remember now.

"But I thought they came instantly?" Kara couldn't help but counter. "Mine pretty much did."

Kal shrugged at this. "Maybe the power of the ring dampens them to start with? Regardless, I haven't felt the effects yet and, no offense, I don't intent to stay long enough for them to kick in." He smiled apologetically at this as he removed his hand from her shoulder. "I would offer you that same position the previous Kryptonian Green Lantern offered you, but I think you're doing well here as Power Girl alone. And with family that loves you," he nodded to the others at this.

"Thanks," Kara whispered, leaning up to quickly kiss her parallel cousin on the cheek. He blushed a little at this, but he remembered Alura kissing Kara on Krypton and something he was forgetting to do now. Something both Kara Da-Ver and Alura Zor-El had insisted upon…

"Before I forget, Aunt Alura would have my head if I didn't do this…" Kal grabbed Kara's left hand now as he started talking Kryptonese, the dialect of their home world and something only Kara understood – he could tell she understood as he started, simply by the knowing look on her face: "We are thankful to Rao for the arrival of a new family member and thank him for bringing her to us. The house of El opens its doors and welcomes you. From this day forth, all the protection and love the House of El has to offer goes to Kara Zor-El, daughter of Alura." Alura had insisted on officially naming her Kara Zor-El for Kryptonian uses and, of course, naming Kara as her daughter – although Kal wasn't quite sure he could use 'Zor-El' when he had already gotten used to 'Wells'. It was exotic to him. The Kryptonian welcome was slightly modified, since it was normally for a baby and he did not present her with a symbol of the house since that was normally a baby blanket, although Pow-E could count.

He continued in Kryptonese though, so only Kara Wells could understand him. "If you ever want to visit Krypton, Kara, you are always welcome. Aunt Alura would love it." Kal smirked at his cousin.

Moving away from Kara now, he smiled at the confused others and, with a touch of his ring, he left the apartment…

-PowerFlash-

It had been a few Earth months – five, Kal approximated – since he had last visited Kara Wells. He wanted to give her some peace, some time to grow as her new self; both as a Wells and an El. It was healthy for Pow-E too, for Kal to stay away. But that didn't mean he wasn't on Earth regularly. Alan Scott had been showing him the ropes of this sector, as well as its various intractable planets, in preparation for Kal's relocation.

That was until the unthinkable had happened. Alan had been killed just over a month ago and Kal had been doing the work of two ever since. It was starting to wear him down and he was beginning to honestly consider Kara Wells as Alan's replacement. His Kara had proved a perfect Green Lantern in the short time she had taken over from Astra, so it made sense this Kara would do well, too.

Which lead him back to Central City, to the building housing Cat Grant and her personal assistant, Kara Wells. He waited in the alleyway beside the building – in his Lantern outfit, he didn't want to be seen, especially when he was sure the media of this planet had spotted him, and even Alan, saving the peoples of this world from attacks they didn't yet understand.

As he contemplated what to say, he saw her.

She reacted quicker than he expected as she had him pulled into arm twist, using all her abilities to keep him pinned, but the Ring's powers held steadfast, not allowing any bones to break as he chuckled at her own reflexes. She released him upon this chuckle as she took him in and both gasped and grinned at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" Kara Wells asked, dragging him into the alleyway and looking around quickly. He suspected she was using her x-ray vision to make sure they were alone – in the months he had been posted in this sector, he had kept a close eye on Power Girl's various missions, finding out exactly what her powers were and how she used them.

"I just wanted to check in on my new favorite cousin," Kal replied simply, not sure how to bring the conversation to the spare Lantern ring he now possessed, "and I happened to get wind of your friends needing help so... I helped." He wanted to cover all bases.

"That's not… Look, it's nice to see you Kal, really, but you've been seen a lot more since Christmas – and not even in Central; reports from Gotham, Platinum Flats, Detroit and even Metropolis…" Kara started as Kal sighed. So, it was true; the media of this world had taken notice. It was the first time since humanity had reached such levels of progress to notice the aliens among them.

"I'm just helping out," Kal started thoughtfully as Kara folded her arms in a manner only Kal knew from his own Kara when she wanted all the information, and not just part of it. "Okay, fine… the truth is, I'm covering for a pal. Well, not so much covering as…" he sighed, obviously not sure how to explain what was going on. "Alan Scott, he was a Green Lantern like me who dealt with this sector until he was killed."

"Oh." Kara's eyes widened in shock. "I'm sorry, Kal," she made a movement as if to touch him on the shoulder before stopping herself; Kal smiled at the gesture.

"We're not supposed to expose ourselves to the residents of planets like the Earth – you know primitive planets – but the sector I've been covering are used to, and know, the Green Lantern Corps." Kal explained now. "I'm not that good at keeping myself hidden like Alan was, and with all your heroes running around I figured no one would really care and so far, I was right. Hal Jordan used to cover this sector too, but he'd been relocated long before Alan died and is unavailable now… anyway, the point is," he sighed, going on and finally taking a breath, realizing he was rambling, "I'm looking for his replacement, scouring this planet for someone worthy of taking up his Ring–"

"You think Wally or Jesse are up for the role?" Kara asked, a little out of the blue and causing Kal to frown. Quick and Silver were the last on his list for replacements – not that he'd even considered them.

"No," Kal paused momentarily as he confirmed: "You, actually." He moved forward, toward Kara, but she tightened her folded arms, defensive, not wanting the contact this time.

"Me?" Kara asked, raising an eyebrow and sounding skeptical.

"You have all the qualities the Green Lantern Corp could hope for in a member," Kal now tried with a smile. "And if you did join, we'd see a lot more of each other. Think of it; this would be your sector. You'd still be protecting Earth."

"Yeah…" Kara started, doubtful. "Look, I love seeing you, but I wouldn't make a good Green Lantern, Kal," Kara countered, but Kal smirked at this, remembering his Kara telling him something like this too. She underestimated herself at times.

"That's what my Kara said when Astra offered her the position…" Kal mused, wondering how alike his two cousins were. He would have to get them to meet someday.

"Astra was…?" Kara asked, worried now as Kal bit his lip at the reveal. "What about Non?"

"Who's Non?' Kal asked instantly, never having heard this name before. Astra had been happily married to her Green Lantern cohort, the one who had saved Kara as a kid. No one named Non had ever made themselves known to their families.

"No one," Kara quickly responded, forcing the conversation along, but Kal saw the smirk at the question. He did not know who Non was, but he had a feeling Non was bad for everyone. "So, Astra is a Green Lantern?" Kara tried.

"Until she died, yes," Kal stated, not wanting to linger on this topic. "My point is, you would be perfect. You protect this world so brilliantly as Power Girl, but you could have so much more… you could be so much more."

"No," Kara shook her head. "I like my life here, I like being Power Girl, having Barry, working for Cat…"

Kal chuckled despite this, a little let down that she was adamantly against his plan, but produced a small communication coin to hand to her. A special Green Lantern invention. "If you change your mind, or if you ever need me… just squeeze that." Kara took the coin. "But please, think of my offer. I can't cover two sectors for much longer."

"Okay," Kara muttered. "It was nice seeing you again, Kal," she smiled as he brought her into a hug. It felt so natural to him, and better than embracing Kara Da-Ver, who always had business on her mind and didn't do that sort of thing as often as even her kids would like. He took a step back as they separated, reached for his ring again, and teleported away from Kara, back to the Lantern Corp HQ.

-PowerFlash-

Kal awoke a few days later to an urgent call. He pulled out his communication device to see it was Lara Jor-El, his own mother. He frowned as he answered, her holographic image presented to him in small scale on the little pad in his hand.

"Mother?" Kal asked, a little sleepily.

"Kal-El, my love. Times are troublesome. I have an urgent request," Lara started humbly.

"What?" Kal was concerned now.

"The Harvesters. Our peace treaty has failed. It will be a matter of months before they're at our door. We have called in our Daxamite allies to help, but even two worlds would be easily outnumbered by the Harvester masses," Lara explained.

"Wait. I thought Kara and the council…?" Kal started, trying to make sense of this.

"It was in vain. We could only hold off their attack for so long. Your father is working on something that may be of help against them, but we need as many people on our side as possible. Krypton has to survive this!" With these words, Kal instantly remembered Kara Wells. The parallel universe from which her DNA originated had their Krypton destroyed. He never asked why. Could it be this what destroyed that Krypton? Could it be destiny that Krypton was doomed to die?

"What do you need?" Kal asked, resolution in his tone. He'd be damned if his Krypton was blown from the sky.

"The Lantern Corp. They only respond to emergencies as they happen – but with some time, I was hoping they'd rally their own forces and help defend us," Lara stated.

"Why hasn't Kara, Gal-El or a member of the council asked?" Lara and even Alura were once members of the High Council, but both had left when their children had taken their places.

"They will, but only when it's too late. I know how the council works, and I know where their faults are, son. They need help. Krypton needs help." Lara insisted.

"We have time. I shall speak to the Lantern Corp. We can stop this," Kal nodded resolutely as his mother thanked him and called off. This was bad. Really bad. He sighed now as he rubbed his eyes. Krypton had to survive somewhere.

-PowerFlash-

It was barely twenty hours later when he felt the call. The Power Coin he had given Kara Wells to get in contact with him had been activated, and he had to answer the call. He hoped this was what he had asked her for – this was the perfect time to have Kara as a fellow Lantern; they needed reinforcements for the Harvester attack, and he hadn't yet rallied in the Corp to help.

He teleported to her location, finding himself in a small white/grey room with just Kara by herself in full white costume. He wasted no time in bringing her into an embrace, glad to see her again. He hadn't seen any family in months, beyond occasional calls from his mother – both casual manner, and the one more serious communication earlier. As he pulled away from Kara, he noticed she looked tired, but didn't address this immediately.

"Changed your mind?" He asked her, a genuine smile on his face now hoping the answer was conclusive. He needed her.

"No…" Kara started, before adding: "and yes. We need your help." Kal raised an eyebrow at this. He needed her help. It seemed she needed him as well. "There's a powerful nemesis we need your help stopping. He drained me of my powers and I don't know if Atom, The Flash and Wonder Woman are enough."

"Wonder Woman?" Kal cocked his head, remembering Alan mentioning the name of Diana's alter ego. She was a God killer from Themscyria and had helped Alan on a few occasions in the past. But she had moved back home after the Cold War, Alan having taken him to Themscyria to meet with her after Kal had first discovered Kara Wells; Kal wanting to know more about Earth – she had even greeted them on the island and told both Kal and Alan that she'd retired. "Diana said she had retired." He stated dumbly.

"You knew…?" Kara blinked in confusion as Kal still contemplated Diana. Perhaps after learning about Kara she too had gone out to seek Power Girl, to find out what had become of all the heroes. Maybe she had witnessed the red robot attack like he had?

"Only met her once, but I remember she was a power-house of forces, created by the Gods themselves – or at least god-like beings." Kal dismissed, shaking off his curiosity as he remembered why he'd been called here. "So, what's the plan?" he folded his arms.

"This nemesis, he's calling himself Power Man and had an ally, Bizzaro." Kara stated. "If she's anything like the Bizzaro another version of myself faced, she's literally an anti-Kryptonian, power-wise. Freeze-vision instead of heat-vision, fire-breath instead of freeze-breath, abilities to see through lead, you name it – and I wouldn't put it past her to have a Kryptonite heart too. Maxwell Lord and Xander Luthor would have found a way to shield her from its powers but not anyone else…"

"Sorry… Kryptonite heart?" Kal was a little lost. He'd not heard of the term 'Kryptonite' before, but it was easy to figure out the word's origins.

"Not real Kryptonite, a synthetic version," Kara now rambled, not realizing Kal was lost already. "Real Kryptonite doesn't really exist here. But this fake one…. It's why… why I'm so weak at the moment. Power Man drained my powers, his anti-power/Kryptonite heart made sure I wouldn't gain them back in time to stop him properly. I need the ring. The one from the dead Lantern. I need your powers to stop these two," Kara was insistent as Kal took this in. He ignored the Kryptonite reference at that, his concentration more on the last part of her speech. The reason Kara wanted Alan's ring.

"No," Kal frowned. "I cannot give you the ring for selfish needs."

"Selfish? How is wanting to protect my city, help my friends, and stop a bad guy selfish? It's actually the exact opposite." Kara tried, looking angry now. "If I was being selfish and wanted to protect myself I would not go and let my friends do this one their own."

"But you have no intention of being a Green Lantern for life," Kal reasoned, seeing through the façade. "You can't just take the ring and use it once and then throw it out."

"But you were offering it to me a few weeks back!" Kara complained, failing her arms about now in agitation. Kal frowned as she acted like a child before remembering her recent origins – she wasn't really the age she appeared, even if her borrowed memories helped even her out.

"Once you have that ring, you're a Lantern for life." Kal stated firmly. This was just selfish and unjust; everything a Lantern shouldn't be. He was surprised by this Kara's attitude. Then again, she was being single-minded in wanting to protect, and couldn't understand why he could not give her what she demanded. "You don't want that – you've made it clear," Kal explained, a thought coming across his mind. Kara was determined, and there were rules… "but I can offer you my ring."

"Your ring? But your powers…" Kara stumbled.

"I haven't been drained by this Kryptonite-stuff. I take off this ring and I get Power Girl's powers." Kal hesitated. He didn't like the looks of the yellow sun powers, but he had been curious about them, wanting to get a taste of them. "The ring and I are bonded, so I can temporarily transfer my abilities to you. It's happened before. In fact, my Kara once used Astra's ring for similar purpose, without taking Astra's place, before suggesting me to the Corp, but back to topic… I always wanted to know what it felt like to be you. I've been curious of what it would be like to be the version of me you know from other worlds," he smirked at her. He hadn't forgotten the Superman name-drop. He was curious about himself. His alternative self that was, and what he was up to.

"You don't," Kara sighed, intriguing Kal now. "The moment I was free of Duplicate, and when my parallel stepped out of her pod… it's like a migraine of immeasurable proportions. You can see… everything, can hear everything and you could risk freezing or blowing something up with the sudden onslaught of power. It took Kara Danvers a whole teenage-hood to control her abilities and myself a hardcore month or so at a secret ARGUS facility gaining control of everything and even now…"

"Then you'll have to talk me through it," Kal stated defiantly, not fazed by this. His Green Lantern training would help, he was sure of it. "You did say at Christmas I was a hero with these powers in alternative realities… this 'Superman' person." Kal grabbed his ring and took it off, mentally telling the device what was needed – where the power was going to go.

"Yeah, but you were a baby when you…" Kara was still talking, but then she noticed what Kal had done, screaming his name in shock as she stared at the ring he had let fall to the ground. Cautiously she now picked it and looked up at Kal, still in his Lantern uniform. He frowned at her. He didn't feel any different.

"I'm…" Kal started, before wincing, a sharp throbbing pain started on the scalp and behind his eyes. It grew within seconds, being so painful he had to lean over to try and catch his breath. He could hear people, many people, so far away and so close too. He recognized the voice of Kara's father as he addressed some person call Cisco a few rooms away – he could also hear a woman telling off some 'Eileen', the mentioning of 'CatCo' being quite recognizable to his ears, but he could see… even with his eyelids shut he could see through the floor. He looked passed a small cuboid buried in the foundations to the Earth below, all the way to the magma flowing miles below their feet.

"Listen to my voice Kal. Concentrate on me." Kara's voice was suddenly clear in his head, so close and yet still mangled through all the other voices, all the people crying for help. "If you can harness your Lantern powers, you can do this." He felt pressure on his arm as Kara tried to reassure him. "Work through the pain, through the confusion, the voices, the x-ray vision and concentrate on me. You were born to be a hero… you can do this."

"Put… on… the ring!" Kal countered, aware it still wasn't on the finger of its new owner. Concentrating on the ring, and on Kara, things seemed to lessen. The voices far away were dulled and he could almost force his eyes to see the room he was in, and not everything else beyond him.

The moment she placed the ring on her finger though, he knew. Things suddenly got easier. He didn't know why, what mechanisms worked within the Lantern powers he possessed, but it gave him ease, being with a temporary owner. But it was still bonded to him, still part of his powers and, although he was starting to feel more powerful than ever before, he still felt like himself. Like part of the Lantern Corp. He hoped this fight was going to be worth it.

He took another sigh as he forced himself into a standing position, seeing Kara still in her Power Girl outfit as he realized it was the power itself that was transferred, not the look. "I'm good," Kal gasped as Kara frowned at him, concerned. "We can do this Kara," he reassured her. There was doubt in her face now, but he was going to do this for her. He could figure out his own stuff later. Plus, he really was starting to feel good with these powers.

"Let's kick some Power-butt," Kara smirked.

-PowerFlash-

The battle was quick, as battles go. Kal was easily able to harness the Kryptonian powers Kara normally had, and like her Krypton double, Kara Wells was easily able to take on the Green Lantern abilities. It saddened Kal, in a moment of peace between using his unusual laser vision and freeze breath, that neither Kara wanted to become a Lantern full time. One was kicking ass as a member of the Kryptonian council, while the other was a hero in her own right. Maybe there was a Kara, out there in the multiverse, who was a Green Lantern.

Kal could only hope.

Power Man had been defeated, dragged into something called the Speed Force by some creep in black, while Bizzaro was taken by Wonder Woman to who knew where. Kal assumed there was a place to keep baddie like her, and Diana knew about it. He had been impressed by Diana's fighting skills though, as he'd never really seen her in action – only witnessing her scuffle with fellow Amazonians on Themscyria to demonstrate her skills beforehand.

Now though Kara had led him back to their base, the Cortex, and Kara had to give him back his ring. Kal couldn't deny it was good to have the Lantern powers back – as he put on the ring, he felt the new Kryptonian abilities dull to the point of unfamiliarity. It was good to be back to normal, although he had liked the super strength, and smiled at Kara as she smiled weakly back. She must be feeling frail again, but her powers would come back, he knew it.

Looking beyond her, wondering if he should just leave or not, he suddenly felt winded. Like Power Man had punched him in the stomach as he saw her. She smirked as she introduced herself to Kara as one Lois Lane before pushing past her to address a stunned Kal herself, as she was prepared, pen and paper ready.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet." She reintroduced herself to Kal, who blinked in shock. "So, what do you go by?"

"Kal-El, of the house of El," Kal said, a little confused as to what was going on. He'd never been interviewed before, especially by someone as beautiful as this Lois. "But I am a Green Lantern if that's what you mean?" He tried, feeling a little weak and knowing it had nothing to do with his powers.

"Green Lantern. Hmmm. Not a bad name. How do you have these powers?" Lois asked, jotting things down in her notepad, not noticing Kal's confusion as he looked over to Kara, who was equally shocked and confused as she turned to talk to a darker woman who was biting her lip.

"I was chosen by the Green Lantern Corp.," Kal supplied to answer Lois's question, deciding to go with fact as he added on a more personal note, trying his best to compliment her: "and may I say, I have been to many planets and many places and even on my home world I have seen very few women as beautiful as you."

"Oh… well…" Lois finally looked up from her notepad to look at Kal, her cheeks reddening as she added: "You're not bad looking too." It seemed to have done some kind of trick though as her next words were said with less confidence, and more personification: "So, um… what was…? Oh yeah, home world. You're an alien?"

"A Kryptonian," Kal answered, a small smirk as he saw her vulnerabilities, not to mention the absurdity of the scene. If Alan was still around he'd be laughing at Kal right now.

"You look human," Lois mused.

"My species were around first. You look Kryptonian," Kal countered with a small grin. He was trying his best to get his interview around to his view, to keep control of the situation. "So, Lois Lane of the Daily Planet." He started himself, "Tell me a little about you. It's only fair since you were asking about me…" Lois smiled at this.

"I'm… I'm… Well, I'm a divorced mother of one," she started, biting her lip as Kal cocked his head a little, raising his eyebrow and smiling minutely at this.

"Motherhood is a great challenge and a privilege on my planet, you should be blessed to be a mother," Kal stated smoothly.

"I am blessed. My son is my pride and joy," Lois continued to smile at this.

"And this Daily Planet?" Kal asked now. He had all but forgotten about the battle he had just come from, or the battles yet ahead. He needed to recruit the Corp to take on the Harvesters, after all.

"It's a newspaper. Well, it's a website and a television broadcaster these days too, but it started off as a newspaper. I've been working there since I became a journalist twenty years ago," Lois stated, the pen and paper from her own interview of Kal long since forgotten.

"Twenty years? It doesn't show, Ms. Lane," he smiled pleasantly at her.

"Erm, Kal?" Kal looked beyond Lois to Kara beyond, she was smirking at him, although crouched slightly, to pet her dog Pow-E.

Kal smiled at her. "I'm sorry, Lois Lane of the Daily Planet, but my cousin needs me…"

"You're cousins?" Lois asked, intrigued now, but Kal didn't address her as he moved over to Kara and Pow-E – the dog wagging her tail at Kal's appearance, but remaining on the spot.

"Lois Lane of the Daily Planet is a very attractive woman," Kal pointed out.

"No kidding," Kara muttered.

"Pow-E's calmed down since she came here too," Kal moved to stroke the canine, who instead licked his hand and he chuckled.

"She's good," Kara muttered. "Look, Kal, I wanted to apologize. I wanted the ring for selfish reasons and it was wrong of me. I won't deny that teaming up with you is a dream come true though. Only in my memories of the other world…"

"I understand Kara," Kal patted her on the arm at this.

"Did I… Did I pull you from something though? When you arrived, you were… well, I just don't want you to go, but if I called you from an important meeting or something," Kara bit her lip at this.

"Now that you mention it, yes. There's… well, there's trouble coming to Krypton and my mother has requested the Lantern Corp to help," Kal stood now. Perhaps it was best to go?

"Anything I can do to help?" Kara asked, standing herself now.

"No. Your powers wouldn't work on Krypton, and I can't give you my ring again, or give you Alan's if you don't intend to be a Lantern for good," Kal stated.

"Well, okay, but there's a whole Justice Society here who could help…" Kara tried.

"Thanks, Kara, but we've got this," Kal smirked, turning to glance at Lois Lane, who was now in minute conversation with the other dark woman Kara had addressed earlier. He caught Lois's eye as she grinned then blushed, looking away quickly.

"Kal… Lois and you…" Kal turned back to Kara now, confused. "Never mind," Kara stated. "Just come back soon, okay?"

"Of course," Kal nodded, moving to touch his ring again and in a flash of green, he had left Kara and the rest of her team.

-PowerFlash-

"We must stop meeting like this," Kal joked as he appeared, less than twenty-four hours later, back at The Power Girl HQ. He expected to see everyone on her team, but was surprised to just find Kara with her sister and Pow-E. "What do I owe my appearance for?"

"We think Powie's pregnant," Jesse spoke up before Kara did. Kal blinked at this one, confused.

"Hi Kal," Kara stated glaring at her sister's forwardness. "Like Jesse said, Powie…"

"But she's not… compatible in the compatible-sense with canines on this Earth," Kal countered instantly, not knowing too much about Kryptonian canines, but enough to hopefully help. He glanced to Pow-E, who remained by her Mistress's feet, looking almost like her mother did when standing to attention by Kara Da-Ver.

"There's was a multiverse jump and another Kryptonian dog," Jesse spoke up. "Like we said, we think she's pregnant."

"Another Kryptonian dog? On another world?' Kal asked, his curiosity about the other worlds coming back at this mention.

"Krypto," Kara said, Kal frowning at the name. "Kara Allen's dog. First Kryptonian dog I ever met, actually. I went there for…" her voice faltered as her face reddened, blushing at her own reasoning. Kal cocked his head, intrigued now.

"Tell him," Jesse almost sang with a smirk.

"No reason," Kara glared at Jesse, "but they disappeared for a bit… and then Kara Allen distracted me with your kids," Kara said, not meeting Ka's eyes at this, and Kal had to blink, unsure what to say to that.

"Kids? Kara Allen? More than one Kara in the multiverse is with Barry Allen?" Kal asked, confused. Kara being with Barry seemed so odd, and it sounded like there was more than one universe where Kara and himself were raised on Earth, instead of Krypton. This didn't bode well.

"Every Kara we know – besides Alien Earth," Jesse said, waving her hand dismissively and making Kal frown again in shock. "She's with that Daxomite there... What's his name?"

"Mon-El," Kara supplied.

"King Mon-El?" Kal, the onslaught of information taking time to sink in.

"King?" Jesse and Kara said as one before Jesse added, impressed: "Go Alien Kara."

"Jesse…" Kara groaned. "Anyway, Kal, please, back to Powie?" Kara now tried.

Kal sighed at this but nodded his head. The alternate worlds having distracted him as Kara looked on, apologetically of her sister as Kal bent down to look at the canine, who gave him big, soulful eyes as she practically grinned at Kal. He didn't know what he was doing, but canines from Krypton were smart – if anything, Pow-E would tell him.

"Pow… how are you?" Kal started, to a yap from the dog as she moved forward and licked his face. "Have you been getting friendly with others of your kind?" She moved back at this, almost embarrassed at the question as Kal chuckled. "Do you think you're expecting?" He asked the canine, who looked up at her mistress, watching on in bemusement. Pow looked back to Kal and bowed her head solemnly. Kal smirked as he gave her a gentle pat on the head before standing up again to address Kara and Jesse.

"I think that says everything," Kal stated. "She is two years old in Kryptonian terms – a little bit older in Earth terms now – so she's no longer a puppy. It seems she's got on well with another of her kind. I wonder if she's bonded with him?" He thought aloud.

"Dogs can bond?" Kara asked curiously now.

"In some special cases, yes," Kal nodded. "Worth taking both soon-to-be mother and father somewhere, watch their behavior and you can tell. If they're bonded they're good, if not well then… at least you'll have the puppies."

"How many does Powie's kind usually have?" Jesse raised her arm at this, as if questioning in class.

"Anywhere between four and eight," Kal stated. "Pow-E's one of five, her mother was one of seven. It varies on the parents. Given they're both Kryptonian too, you can count on all the pups being healthy when born. I shouldn't expect the birth to be any different to your own dogs." Kal informed them.

"Awesome," Kara grinned. "I love Powie, but I want a puppy too!"

"You'll have anywhere up to eight puppies, you know!" Jesse countered, but Kara didn't listen as she moved forward and embraced Kal again. "Thanks for coming."

"I take it your powers are back?" Kal muttered into the hug as Pow-E yapped at the pair.

"Just about. Ms. Grant has published the Justice Society's actions already, hang on…" Kara pulled from the hug as she sped off, a moment later she came back with a newspaper clipping. He looked at the images of them in action – of him and Kara in action. "You're famous now," Kara spoke up. "Lois even contributed to an article. She asked about you." Kal looked up at Kara.

He didn't know what to say as he held the newspaper back to her. She reclaimed it. "I'm… pleased. But Green Lanterns… we're not supposed to… if the Corp hears about this." He didn't know quite how to word it. He had told the attractive Lois too much.

"Too late for that now," Kara frowned. Pow-E whined at her feet, feeling the tone change as Kal took a step back. "Wait!" Kara stopped him. "Before you get all judgmental… you mentioned yesterday there's trouble coming to Krypton. Well Cisco, our cool tech guy, he's looking into getting my powers working even under a red sun. I want to help, I need to help. And if he does… well, imagine all the Kryptonians suddenly with that power against any army. They'd be –"

"Unstoppable…" Kal muttered, biting his lip in thought now.

"I have to help," Kara insisted.

"I'll… I'll come back. I promise," Kal stated. His head was spinning now, imagining his friends and family on Krypton all with Kara's powers, able to stop the Harvester attack. The Daxomites could have similar powers too. King Mon would be so willing to kick the Harvester ass himself… It was a game changer.

"I'll call you. On the coin thing," Kara hesitated. "The moment Cisco succeeds. I'll call."

"Thank you," Kal nodded. "Keep Pow-E safe though. Until next time," he reached for his Ring again and vanished from the Cortex. He had a lot of thinking, and negotiating, to do now.

-PowerFlash-

It was few months later and while Kal had received a calling from Kara, he had chosen to ignore it. The Harvesters were dangerous, and Kara Wells, while a hero of her own right on Earth, had never tackled such an invasion force before. He wondered whether he'd regret not answering, not knowing whether her friend had created such an ability to transport yellow sunlight, but it didn't matter to him.

The invasion was on the forefront of his mind – he had even been spending less time on his sector; most Krypton sympathizing Green Lanterns had abandoned their posts for the good of the invasion. It was not of policy to prepare for attack, but the Harvesters were powerful, they were greedy and they were made for war. Everyone had to be ready. Kal didn't realize just how ready that was though, until he entered Kara Da-Ver's office.

"We've run out of time Kal," Kara stated. She looked older, stressed. As she almost glared at Kal. "The Harvesters… they're here."

"I'll call the Corp," Kal muttered. He wasn't prepared for this, he should have been, but he wasn't.

"We may be outnumbered," Kara muttered. "I've ordered the evacuation of all minors from the planet, but even then…"

"We need to make sure there's a planet for them to return to," Kal stated. "Don't worry, Kara – we've got this."

"I hope so," Kara sighed. "For the love of Rao, I hope so."

To be continued… in 'Karry Prime'!

Post chapter note: 1: I sincerely hope you've all enjoyed this surprise behemoth of a chapter. As referenced above, the sequel and constant continuation of this story, Karry Prime, will continue this mini invasion arc introduced here, and I can exclusively reveal the title will be (question to changes) "Vacation on Krypton" – it will encompass one month and I shall give some background to the Harvesters (although points go to any reviewer who knows where I stole them from – they're not DC-related, either!). My one-month-per-chapter structure will continue into my following 11 chapters and will be coming… soonish. I haven't started it yet and as it may be as long (if not longer!) as this chapter, please don't expect it for a few weeks at least.

Post chapter note 2: I've mentioned previously that I was going to write a sequel to my beta's Kryptonite series and, well, I'm not anymore. I've lost all inspiration for it (not to mention the show stole my main idea of using Silver Kryptonite on Superman anyway!) and want to concentrate on Karry Prime, so that's now off the cards. I apologize for those who were looking forward to it. If you want to read my other Supergirl/Flash works, there's still SuperEarth, Super Double (the prelude to this story) and Empowered – A SuperEarth Sequel to keep you all going. And, of course, the Millma Verse Facebook page!

Please REVIEW and happy belated anniversary, Power Girl and The Flash!


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